Balamb Garden
by Straumoy
Summary: Squall Leonhart signs up for gunblade specialist and begins his training. Raijin, Fujin and Zell join Balamb Garden for the first time. Headmaster Cid and his wife are preparing Squall and the others for the destiny that awaits them in the near future.
1. New Arrivals

**New Arrivals**

The day was the same as the one before, yet it wasn't. Yesterday was the last day of the summer vacation and today was the first day of the new semester. The alarm clock on the wall buzzed into life, shattering the silence with its piercing sounds. Squall reached out from under his quilt, fumbling after the snooze button. Finally he found it, slamming it a bit hard and relaxing his arm as a sigh escaped his lips.

Lifting his arm just a bit so that he could peek out from under the quilt that was covering his head, Squall took a mental note of the time. 06:45 was early, even by his standards, but it could not be helped. He had a lot to do before the annual opening ceremony of Balamb Garden kicked in. This was it, after nearly 7 years of hard training non-stop, day in and day out, Squall was finally old enough to select his field of specialty.

At age 13 it would take him at least 2 years to master his specialty, whatever it would be, and he could then take on his first field exam. From there, his dream would be almost complete. The decision on specialty was a big one and Squall wanted as much time as possible to consider his options carefully. He wouldn't want to do anything rash that would haunt him further down the road.

With a swinging motion he got up in bed, stretching and yawning a bit as he tried to wake up. Scratching his chin, Squall noticed that he needed a shave. The discovery made him groan a bit, because it was such a hassle. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't go more than a week and a half without ending up looking like he had a brown bush stuck around his mouth. Just to make matters worse, he was rather new to this whole shaving ordeal and ended cutting himself a few times when he first gave it try.

It was a hassle, no matter what other people said. However, growing a beard might be an option if you hate to shave every week or so, but Squall found out that a beard itched too much for his comfort, not to mention that he looked flat out stupid with a beard. No, it had to come off one-way or another. Always go with the lesser of two possible evils he sighed to himself before getting out of bed.

Heading for the men's shower and bathroom, Squall dragged his tired feet in a pair of slippers that he got on sale. As a SeeD candidate, he didn't have a pile of gil to flash about. The good payments didn't arrive until AFTER the field exam, assuming that he'd pass that is. It was quite early, so Squall had the showers all to himself, just the way he liked it. Turning on the water and tweaking the hot and cold-water knobs, he settled with a semi warm shower.

Summer was still in the air, but as it was quite early in the morning it was a bit of a chill in the air. The water tickled his face and he washed himself thoroughly from head to toe, making lots of bubbles. It was a little personal secret he had, one of many actually, but he had a fascination for soap bubbles. So if he could, he'd make lots and lots of bubbles when taking a bath or a shower.

With a pale grey towel wrapped around his hips, Squall walked up to the mirror and rubbed his hand over the surface to clear out some of the dew. Twisting his head from side to side, Squall lowered his head in defeat and began gathering his razor, shaving foam and aftershave. Again, it was the simplest of all labels, nothing fancy fashion stuff as his budget wouldn't allow it. It didn't really matter to Squall anyway, as long as it got the job done and he was happy with it, there was no need to go out and bankrupt one self on multi gil shaving tools. Some of the guys did, trying to get the attention of the girls and occasionally the female instructor, spent a small fortune on this kind of equipment, but not Squall. He had his reasons, not shared with anyone or anything.

Patting a fistful of shaving foam on his cheeks, Squall let out a small sigh of disappointment as he noticed that he'd forgotten to turn on the water. Now he'd get the sink smeared with foam when he needed to turn on the water to wash his hands. Using his thumb, Squall made a small "mouth" through the foam over his lips, as one of the first things he learned was that shaving foam didn't taste very good.

"Looks like it's down to you and me, again." He said to the razor as he held it in his right hand. Squall was a natural fast learner, so hopefully and theoretically speaking, this time should go better than the last time. After a few minutes Squall took a second look at his reflection and finished up first by wiping off any leftover foam with a towel and then by patting on some aftershave. "Ouch! I took to much…" Squall muttered as a burning sensation rippled its way across his cheeks, stinging extra badly in the few cuts he had around his chin.

Next stop on the menu was breakfast. There was a slim chance that the cafeteria would be open at this hour, but he shouldn't count on it. Well back in his room, Squall got some of his emergency food supply out from a small drawer under his bed. It wasn't unheard of that Squall was so into his studies that he forgot time and place, so when a grumbling stomach finally got his attention, it would be well past dinner and supper. After falling for that little mistake a couple of times, Squall snuck off with some fruit and crackers from the cafeteria during breakfast and lunch, so that he could make it through the evening should he loose track of time.

The crackers were dry as dust and tasted like sand, but thankfully a juicy apple brought the humble meal into balance, sort of. Squall had overheard some of the instructors talking the other day, so he knew for certain that the weapons guide would be uploaded into the computer network. Grabbing his jacket, Squall headed for the 2nd floor classroom where he intended to stay until breakfast.

The main hall looked dark, empty and intimidating with its lowered lightning, absolute silence and locked into a sense of emptiness. Although the sun was above the horizon and starting to shine with its familiar bight summer light, it wasn't high enough on the sky to cast its rays down through the roof windows. Besides, everyone save Squall and a few other souls scattered about, was sound asleep, so why waste precious gil on lighting up a hall that no one uses?

At least the elevator was working; its humming sound was much louder now that it was the only sound in the whole hall. Just as Squall stepped into the elevator, the many fish-like fountains woke up and began to spit out water in a steady stream. Lights in the pool that surrounded the main hall was flickered on and as the doors closed, Squall could hear chit chatting Garden staff making preparations for the big day.

His footsteps echoed as he walked at a slow phase down the bridge from the core pillar an into the 2nd floor hallway. Squall stifled a yawn, shielding his mouth with the back of his left hand before stopping in front of the classroom door. That's odd, he mused to himself. The door didn't open. Maybe it was out of order? Not very likely, which meant that he had to go all the way down to the instructors' dorm to get someone that could open the door for him. Hardly any of them were as dedicated to their duties as he was, so if he started knocking on doors he's popularity rating would drop like a rock in the sea. The same old lecture every damn time; "Seriously Mr Leonhart, you should try to get a life outside your studies," and blah, blah, blah.

Squall planted his palms on the door and lowered his head in defeat. He'd already made up his mind regarding which weapon he'd choose, more or less. Last year Seifer became the first one to pass the initial trials for becoming a gunblade specialist. If Seifer could do it, so could he.

More over, the sheer challenge of mastering a gunblade appealed to him. Through mastering such a weapon would mean that he'd finally be both strong and independent. From there Squall could look after sis. Yes, that was the plan. Be strong enough to make it on his own and after graduation, he'd look for sis.

Moments ticked by and Squall concluded that there was no good in hanging around here. Just maybe if he went back down he'd bump into someone that could let him in, and if not, well then he could always grab a book at the library or something. Squall nodded to himself and headed down to the ground floor again.

Kojiroh Amagi, one of the instructors at Garden was sitting on a bench in the main hall, sipping a cup of green herb tea while reading a newspaper when Squall walked by. He stopped in his tracks after walking past a few steps and turned around. "Excuse me." Squall said. "Uhm?" Instructor Amagi glanced up from his paper. "Could you unlock the 2nd floor classroom for me please?" Squall asked.

Instructor Amagi on the other hand just blinked at him for a moment before he hid himself behind the newspaper again. Squall was about to speak up when instructor Amagi suddenly mumbled from behind the paper: "I'm sorry, but I've lost my instructors licence so you'll have to ask someone else." Although he was slightly curious about what could have cost an instructor his licence, Squall decided to keep his curiosity on a tight leach.

The cafeteria was slowly but surely awakening with buys sounds from the kitchen and the traditional kid mopping the floor. "Ah! My back is killing me." He complained before accidentally kicking over the bucket of water. "Great, just great! It's going to be one of those days I bet." The kid groaned before setting the bucket straight. He noticed Squall though said nothing. He knew from past experience that Squall, although earlier than the sunrise at times, wasn't the talkative type. "Big day today, eh?" Much to Squall's annoyance the kid decided to try his luck by starting a casual conversation. "Mm." Squall barely nodded before finding himself a seat, waiting for breakfast to be served.

Other early birds began to show themselves as time ticked by little by little. Squall sat at his usual place, down in the corner and made no effort to greet the other students. Finally the breakfast food was put out and a queue started to take form. "OI! Don't shove man!" One student grunted. "Gimme a plate will ya? OH! And pass the cheese!" A girl squeaked. "I thought you were on a diet, Marina?" Another girl asked while passing a plate backwards in the queue. "I've been livin' on apples and water for 3 months now. Enough is enough, so pass the cheese, Junko!" Marina pouted. Squall on the other hand, just tagged along, taking a plate a knife, fork and a glass. All without making any fuss or drawing any attention to himself.

Breakfast was refreshing and tasteful. The cafeteria staff always put a little extra into the food when a special event was right around the corner. Events like school start, Christmas, new-year and summer vacation. Of course, if the Garden Festival Committee decided to pull of a stunt or two during the year, the cafeteria staffs were more than happy to flex some muscles in their beloved kitchen.

However, things had been rather quiet on that front for the past few years. They'd just taken part in the usual parties, not really making an effort to do something on their own, like a concert, theater play or "karaoke havoc" as they called it. Squall wasn't objecting, more on the contrary.

Whenever there was some sort of social arrangement going on, Squall usually hid in his room or in the training area, burying himself deep into his studies. That didn't always work though, as there was one in particular that always seemed to go out of her way to boost up Squall's social life.

"Good morning Squall." Quistis greeted him warmly as they met when Squall went to refill his glass. Speak of the devil, Squall sighed mentally. "What's with the frown?" She asked. Leave me alone, Squall grunted in his mind, but kept his mouth shut. "I'll join you as soon as my toast is finished, okay?" Quistis was beaming at him more than usually he noted. Although a little curious of what had made her day so shiny, he kept his poker face on firmly and tried his best to freeze her out with his body language.

Taking his seat, Squall just sipped his juice and stirred around in his coffee cup while carefully observing the other students. It wasn't like he was interested in what was going on around him, it was more like a occupation habit that he'd picked up after training to be mercenary for as long as he could remember.

Quistis finally joined him, her breakfast the same as usual; toast, milk, tea and a cup of yogurt for desert. Her newly washed hair, showered in the sweet tickling sent of shampoo lingered around her and advanced closer towards him for every movement she made. "So, have you decided yet?" She asked him, putting strawberry jam on her toast. Squall just made a barely noticeable face as a reply before gulping down the last of his juice.

Quistis wasn't too affected by his cold behavior, so she just kept on eating her toast as if Squall's reply was more or less what she'd expected. "Knowing you, you'd probably go after Seifer." She said more to herself than to him. Quistis stood for the talking and Squall stood for the silence, their verbal relationship in a nutshell.

The instructors usually arrived for breakfast at the same time and most students took their arrival as a cue for finishing up breakfast and get ready for class. Dorms needed to be clean, beds to be made, teeth brushed and gossip exchanged before the first class started.

Xu, a long time friend of Quistis and one of the latest additions to Balamb Garden instructors' team still had that aura of a newcomer about her. Her skills in tactical combat were second to none, it was as if she could see a precious few seconds into the future and be able to think up a suitable countermeasure before the strike hit.

Squall had seen her in action, several times in simulated battles, but only once in a real fight. Xu's usual warm and gentle like face turned firm, cold and calculating at the blink of an eye. It was as if she became a totally different person, more like a split personality complex. One could easily see that behind her eyes she was working things out, rapidly and accurately.

With this image in the back of his head, it was very hard to imagine the now shy, timid and somewhat confused young woman sitting with the other instructors was the same person. She wasn't acting awkward around students, since she'd always been one of those patient and willing to teach others people that often end up as a teacher in one form or another. Once she gets used to the instructors' licence she'll be a fine instructor, Squall concluded to himself.

Xu talked for some time with one from the Garden staff team before scribbling something down on a napkin. Afterwards she stood up and scanned the cafeteria as if she was looking for someone in particular. When she noticed Quistis and Squall, she walked over to them while double-checking her napkin note.

"Trepe, Leonhart could you two do me a favor?" She asked them. Squall remained motionless, but Quistis turned to face Xu. "Sure we can, what's up?" Quistis asked with a mouthful of toast. "We have 2 more students arrive by train from Winhill and a third student from Balamb. We need someone to go and pick them up." Xu explained.

Weird, all new students should have been here last night at the latest, Squall thought. If they didn't arrive on time, they'd have to wait for next year, or next semester at the very earliest to apply. "Are these some special talents since they're given such treatment or…?" Quistis asked out of curiosity.

Squall actually mentally thanked her, since she asked what he wanted to know. "Not really, it's just that there was another bombing near the Timber train station, so everything stood still for a good 18 hours. However, this guy from Balamb is… well you'll just have to see for yourselves." Xu explained.

Squall stood up and began gathering his things. "Excuse me." He said before leaving, but Xu held him back. "Leonhart, I'd like you to accompany Ms Trepe." She said a little firmer than usual. There was no need for 2 students to go and pick up 3 new arrivals was there? "Some new additions to the training area will arrive on the same train as the students from Timber. I'd like you to make sure the transportation to Garden goes smoothly." She explained.

A bit far off, since Squall didn't have Guardian Forces assigned to him yet, let alone a weapon art that he'd specialized in. Besides, Squall hated to have responsibility for anyone or anything other than himself and his own business. "I'd send Seifer if I could, but no one's seen him since last nights curfew." Xu sighed. Squall gave it a quick thought and concluded that there was little he could do to dodge away, except one thing.

"What about the opening ceremony? We and the new students would miss it if we're to get them now." He said, nodding up at the watch hanging over the cafeteria counter. "No need to worry Leonhart, the headmaster is also going to Balamb for a quick errand. You'll make it just in time if you get going right now." Xu assured him and that pretty much settled the deal.

Quistis happily walked down to the garage with a disappointed Squall reluctantly tagging along. "Oh would you please stop sulking like that? Meeting new people isn't all that bad, so cheer up already." Quistis teasingly stuck out her tongue at Squall with a smile and a wink of her eye. Be quiet Quistis, just be quiet, was all Squall thought while his sulking only became more obvious.

Passing a pair of boys younger than himself, Squall noted that they were playing a strange looking card game. Usually you played cards without a board, but they seemed to be placing the cards on a board divided into 3 x 3 squares. From there he lost interest in the game and just wished he'd get this thing over with quickly and smoothly.

Headmaster Cid was waiting in the garage along with a pair of SeeD's, both veterans from the Trabia operation, code named "Blizzard's wrath". "Good morning students, what are you two doing here?" Cid asked them. "Instructor Xu sent us to pick up the new arrivals in Balamb along with training area supplies." Quistis replied with a flawless salute.

Headmaster Cid blinked at her response for a moment before he turned back to the two SeeD's. "Looks like there's been a small misunderstanding. Your services won't be needed after all gentlemen, now please return to your duties." He told them. "Sir!" They said in union and saluted Cid before leaving.

They walked further into the garage before finding a suitable car. "Quistis, isn't it?" Headmaster Cid asked Quistis over his shoulder. "Y-yes, sir!" She replied a little loud as if she was taken by surprise. "You drive." Cid smiled as he tossed her the keys. Much to Squall's disappointment, headmaster Cid decided to take the back-seat. He let out a small sigh in defeat before taking a seat next to Quistis. At least it wasn't going to be a long drive.

Being only 14 years old and driving a car might seem intimidating, but if you add the school headmaster and the guy you think you have a crush on as passengers, you've got a situation that's going to take quite a toll on your nerves.

Quistis did, nevertheless, do very well. The road down to Balamb was not really used for anything else than trips to and from Garden. At this time of the year and at this hour, the road was deserted. Headmaster Cid was reading the newspaper and Squall was unhappily looking outside his window. "Excuse me headmaster, but who are we picking up?" Quistis asked, glancing into the rear-mirror. "Mm? Oh, let me see... I've got their applications papers here somewhere." Headmaster Cid replied, putting his newspaper away.

He did some rustling about through his papers before headmaster Cid found 3 sheets of paper. "Let's see. The first one is from Balamb, Zell Dincht. The two others come all the way from Winhill, so they'll arrive by train." He mused. "If you take care of the new arrivals, I'll look after the delivery for the training area." Squall grunted sleepily towards Quistis. She gave him a curious side-way glance, but said nothing.

Quistis brought the car to a halt in the main street in Balamb and while headmaster Cid took a small minute to gather together his things, Squall quickly, yet quietly left the car to stretch his legs. A couple of younger kids looked at him with big eyes. His SeeD candidate uniform drew attention. Perhaps this is why students don't commute so much, he thought to himself.

"Squall, please head over to the train station and receive the delivery. Quistis, here are the application sheets. Please give all 3 of them a good first impression." Headmaster Cid told them as he handed Quistis the application sheets. "Of course I will sir. When do we meet?" She asked him.

Headmaster Cid thought about it for a moment. "It's hard to say. I've some business to take care of, but it can be long or short. If I'm not back by the time you're done, you can leave the luggage in the car and I'll drive it back." He concluded. Quistis nodded in response and saluted. Squall on the other hand was just listening, though he did some active window-shopping at the local weapon store.

Squall was about to walk over to the train station, when Quistis hailed him. "Squall, you could at the very least stick around and help me with the luggage." Grumbling a little to himself, Squall reluctantly turned around and stood sulking next to Quistis as she rung the doorbell.

"Brighten up!" Quistis hissed silently as the door opened. A little boy answered the door. He stood there for a small moment, just looking up at them with big eyes. "WOW! Soldiers!" He exclaimed. Great, kindergarten hell, here I am, Squall mentally groaned. Quistis nudged his side with her elbow before she crouched down to talk to the kid.

"Hello there, my name is Quistis Trepe and this is Squall Leonhart. We're from Balamb Garden. Could you get Zell Dincht for us please?" Quistis' tone of voice was bright and cheerful. How does she do it, Squall wondered, but kept on sulking. "ZELL! A lady and a man from Garden is here for you!" Hyne that kid had lungs. How could someone that small make that much noise?

From far into the house Squall and Quistis heard someone trashing about. A few curses, some light panting and lastly a quick check in front of the mirror with a few comments to boot. "Yeah, I don't look that bad." A guys voice said. The guy came out into the doorway, standing 5'5'' tall, bright blond hair, blue eyes, big baggy blue shorts, dirty white socks (with a big hole near the left big toe), bare torso, a big smile on his face and a toothbrush in his mouth.

Squall and Quistis exchanged glances for a brief moment and were uncertain of what to do or say next. Squall was obviously not helping, he had "well-go-on-girl-do-your-thing" written all over his face. "Yo, what's up. Name's Zell Dincht, pleased to meet you guys." Zell introduced himself and put out his hand.

Quistis took it firmly and shook it. She noticed that Zell squeezed her hand in return. A firm handshake, well that's at least something she noted. Squall on the other hand looked quite uncomfortable with the situation and he was itching to get it over with. When Zell offered his hand to Squall, he just raised his eyebrows faintly and gave him a barely visible upward nod. Their greeting was officially over as far as Squall was concerned.

"Did I do anything wrong..?" Zell asked, sounding worried. You only have one chance to make a first impression, didn't your mother tell you that, Squall thought but remained mute as stone. "Oh no, not at all! He's just... erm ... carsick that's all!" Quistis fidgeted. "Oh, well that's understandable. If you need to puke, the toilet's in the back." Zell said, jerking his right thumb over his shoulder. Quistis lowered her head and rested three fingers on her forehead in embarrassment. Why did this have to happen?

"Your luggage." Squall muttered. "Huh? Oh yeah! It's a bit much and maybe not packed the best way possible. Sat up late last night." Zell said a bit sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Squall rolled his eyes while Quistis tried her best to put on a polite smile, assuring Zell that they'd work it out somehow. Squall took a curious glance into the house. The entrance hall looked like a bomb site. Toast and peanut butter, this was going to take all day, Squall groaned.

It took them a good 15 minutes to get most of the stash into the car. Squall glanced at the watch at the end of the street. He was running late, and he hated that. "Quistis, I better get going." He said. Quistis looked up at the watch as well and agreed. "Zell? We're going to the train station to get two other students, can you manage on your own?" She asked. "Ha? Oh yeah, don't sweat it... uhm ... " Zell seemed to have problems remembering people's names. "Quistis." She supplied with a warm smile. "Right, I'm on top of things here so no worries." Zell said, struggling with yet another massive suitcase.

The train station was buzzing with life. Passengers getting on and off, cases of cargo loaded and unloaded, messages over the speakers and people everywhere. Where to start? They were looking for a Raijin and Fujin. Their last names were left blank for some reason, they probably forgot to them fill in when they applied for Garden. The headmaster must have processed their applications personally, since no one in administration would tolerate such sloppiness.

At least they had remembered to supply a pair of recently taken photo's. "Maybe we should split up?" Quistis suggested. We have to split up, I'm only going to take care of the delivery. You on the other hand, you're on your own, Squall thought as he looked around for loading bay 12C. A girl was greeted by a young man with flowers in his hands. They hugged and exchanged kisses, making Squall feeling very out of place. Hypocrites, he thought to himself.

Squall nudged and pushed himself through the crowd until he found loading bay 12C. After some looking around, he found the man in charge. "Excuse me, I'm here to take a package to Balamb Garden, number ID 14558/BV." He said, poking the man's shoulder. "Really? Well it was about time. I've been shittin' me pants ever since me got 'em freaks." The man snapped, yanking the note Squall had in his hand. "Here ya go lad, sign here and down on the left on the next page." Squall looked down on the receipt. Was this okay? Did he have authority to do this? Perhaps he should give this to headmaster Cid.

"OY! Charlie!" The man barked into the back of the loading bay. "What!" A man's voice shouted back. "Get 'em crates for Garden will ya!" The man barked to Charlie. "Have ya lost yer marbles man! I ain't touch 'em things with a 10 feet iron pole!" Charlie objected. "Fer cryin' out loud man! Then get Alice to do it, that lass has at least some backbone." The man barked, clearly upset over the incompetence of his crew.

A few minutes passed, Squall standing with the receipt in hand, not quite sure if it was okay for him to sign or not, when a for truck came with a large square metal crate. Animal like grunting, snorting and growling could be heard from inside the crate. A bald girl drove the fork truck, with a fat cigar in the corner of her mouth. "Don't look so worried hon', I've got 2 more for ya." She winked at Squall.

After bringing in the two remaining crates, Alice came back with a tall rectangle shaped steel crate. When Squall studied it further, he noticed that it actually looked a lot like an oversized fridge. A primitive model of the dormant chambers that was used for long space travel. Frost smoke leaked out from the door and a small instrument panel showed temperature readings and other relevant data.

"Well, well chap. At least one of 'em critters will be sleepin'!" The man laughed and slapped Squall across his back. Curious of what was inside the crates, Squall scanned the receipt more carefully. The 3 smaller crates contained 1 Raldo each, which essentially was an oversized armadillo looking monster. The "fridge" on the other hand contained a large insect classed monster, a race called Grenaldo. Squall hadn't heard of this Grenaldo monster before, but Raldo's are common in the area north-east of Deling city.

"How am I suppose to get these crates to Garden?" Squall asked. "Well chap, ya can start by signing the bloody receipt, and from there I suggest that ya just improvise, adapt and overcome." The man said, patting Squall sympathetically on the shoulder, before bursting into a roaring laughter. "I'll have to check with headmaster Cid first, could you wait?" Squall asked, feeling his temper rising ever so slightly. "Sure lad, but this place better be clean of 'em critters by 13:45 'cause I've got another train comin' then, ya hear?" The man said, returning to his affairs.

Fine, whatever Squall grumbled and stomped off to find headmaster Cid. On the way he bumped into a girl, nearly knocking her off her feet. Squall stopped dead in his tracks, but made no attempt to keep the girl from falling or apologize. "Fujin, you okay?" A guy standing next to her asked. "I'm fine Raijin, no worries. I was just taken by surprise that's all." Squall paused for a moment to think. These names, they sounded familiar. Where had he heard them before?

"Hey you, I think, you know, an apology would be in order, you know." Raijin grunted. Squall ignored him completely as his mind was elsewhere. "Hey!" Raijin raised his voice, but Fujin stopped him. "Raijin, it's okay, leave it alone will you?" Squall finally shrugged and figured that it was all in his head and decided to go on with his business when Fujin grabbed his arm.

"Excuse me, you're from Garden right?" She asked politely, sounding a bit timid. Squall just gave her a dumb look. Of course he was from Garden, he wore their uniform, didn't he? "Uhm ... I'm Fujin and this is my good friend Raijin. We applied for Garden this semester. Since we're both from the country side, we're not used to the big city so..." Fujin kept on babbling in her shy, yet polite manner.

Squall wouldn't really call Balamb a big city, but when you're from Winhill, anything with more than 2 phone booths would qualify as a big city. "Just head for the main exit, over there." Squall said, pointing in the general direction of the exit. His reply was obviously not quite what Fujin had in mind, so in response her big brown eyes was brought to the verge of tears.

A skater-boy and a crybaby, doesn't Garden have higher standards when taking in new students, Squall wondered. If Fujin needed someone to hold her hand already now, she would be a lost cause in the battlefield. She probably wouldn't last a week, since there were instructors at Garden that ate students like her for snacks between classes.

However, Squall was saved by the bell. Zell and Quistis finally found them and greetings were exchanged. "So you two are like, from another continent? Wow, that's so cool!" Zell was thrilled since he wasn't going to be the only new kid on the Garden dorm. "Yeah, it was a long trip you know, hard to sleep and all... that... uhm ... stuff, you know." Raijin said. Equal kids play best, Squall mused, constantly looking for a way out.

"I need to clear something with headmaster Cid." He announced and left before any of the others could blink twice. Quistis would probably chew him out a bit for leaving her with all that luggage, but that Raijin fellow seemed to have more than enough muscle to handle whatever luggage there might be. Squall had also noted that Zell wasn't in bad shape either. Perhaps he past judgment on them too soon? What a person does is what truly defines him or her.

Headmaster Cid had arrived at the Balamb Garden hotel and waited for his contact to arrive in the lounge. Cid glanced at his watch for the 55th time. This was important, so why was he late? Finally the doors opened and a tall and lean character entered with a large and heavy looking suitcase literally changed to his wrist. "You're late." Cid pointed out. "My apology, headmaster. There were a few mechanical issues with my ferry." The man relied. "I've reserved a room for us, we can talk there." Cid said as he rose from his chair. "Certainly." The man said and followed.

Well inside, the door was closed and locked, curtains pulled shut and the TV turned on to fill the room with random background noise. "You have it I trust?" Cid whispered. "Wouldn't be here if I didn't, would I?" The man smiled. He put the suitcase on the bed. "The key if you please." He said to headmaster Cid. Cid gave him a key from his pocket and he unlocked the handcuff.

A moment of silence followed. Cid was somewhat nervous, but the man remained calm and collected. The two silver locks on the case was opened with two quick clicks. "I'll leave the honour to you, headmaster." He whispered as he gestured towards the suitcase while stepping back one step. Headmaster Cid opened the case carefully and checked its content.

"Just as we agreed." Cid whispered approvingly. "Yes, the president saw to it personally. It is very important to him that all of this goes well." The man replied. "You've made it according to tradition?" Cid asked. "Yes, we had access to quite detailed records of how to make them, and craftsmen of that trade still exist within Esthar's borders." The man assured Cid.

"Well then, I think that concludes our meeting, minister Kiros." Cid announced, as he closed the suitcase and locked it. "Always a pleasure Mr Kramer." Minister Kiros smiled and shook headmaster Cid's hand. The two men headed downstairs and parted to their separate ways.

Just as headmaster Cid left the hotel, he met Squall. "Squall, good timing. Is everything in order?" Squall explained the situation with the crates. "I see, okay here's what we'll do; I'll rent a truck at the car rent, you'll get the crates loaded, get the new students to help you should you need a extra set of hands, Quistis will drive it to Garden and you'll show the new students to Garden." Squall was dumbstruck, however, no matter how much he tried to twist the situation around, headmaster Cid's suggestion made sense and was the best way out of it.

Squall hated the idea of having to walk for a good hour and a half with a trio of strangers, all of them probably bubbling with curiosity about their new lives at Garden. Things would probably turn even worse once they found out that Squall was a first generation SeeD. Still, there was no other way around it. Quistis had a drivers licence and he didn't. Headmaster Cid would take the car that they arrived in and Squall would have to settle with using his two own feet.

There was however a minor problem. "Sir, what about the annual opening ceremony? The new students will miss it." Squall pointed out. Maybe, just maybe there was a way to twist himself out of it. "That's true, but I can't send down another car Squall." Cid sighed. "Why not?" Squall blurted out unintentionally.

"Well because the only other car is missing. I suspect that Seifer took it for a spin after curfew last night." Headmaster Cid explained. That's true, ever since he got his licence Seifer had spent a lot of time burning rubber, showing off. Worst of all, there were those students that actually liked his shows, which brought his ego to new heights.

Seifer, one of these days I'm really going to give you what you deserve, with interests, Squall promised himself. "I understand, sir." Squall saluted before turning his attention to the business at hand. Headmaster Cid took the car loaded with the luggage of both Raijin, Fujin and Zell. On the way he explained the situation to Quistis, exchanged greetings with the new students and made arrangements at the local car rental shop for the extra truck.

Squall decided that it would be too risky to move the Raldo crates by hand, since the sent of humans had a provoking effect. Moreover they've been inside those crates for many hours, making them restless and moody at best. The fork truck couldn't leave the loading bay, but the guys at the train station borrowed Squall & Co a mobile crane and some chains to help them get the crates loaded.

Quistis gestured up, down, right and left as Squall operated the crane. Zell, Raijin and Fujin were for the most part spectators, though it was clear that they didn't seem to mind at all. This was more excitement than they could ever hope for. Rookies, Squall sighed as he landed the second crate safe and sound on to the truck.

"Be careful with this third one Squall, he seems more aggressive than the others." Quistis warned him as she locked the chains around the crate. Actually I think all three of them are females, Squall noted to himself, but said nothing. The crane lifted up the crate, angering the Raldo even further. "Keep it steady Squall..." Quistis said with a concerned look on her face.

The crate jumped around as the Raldo was trashing about inside. Grunting and panting, while knocking and scratching at the walls of the crate, the Raldo acted on instinct when confined in a small space surrounded by hostiles. Squall stopped the crane, hoping that it would calm the Raldo down. It wasn't going very well.

Suddenly, the chain snapped and the crate came crashing down. It landed with a loud metallic bang, the lock brushed against the side of the truck and was destroyed. Seconds later the door flung open with an animal roar drowning yet another metallic bang. The Raldo was on the loose.

Panic flashed through the surrounding crowd, people screamed, threw whatever they had in their hands and scrammed for the nearest exit, or at the very least away from the raging beast. This was NOT good. Neither Squall or Quistis had GF's junctioned, they didn't even have any weapons with them. The chaos that gained absolute rule over the crowd only scared the Raldo even more, the beast and the crowd was trapped in a negative spiral, going down at a rapid pace.

Quick thinking could save the day, but Squall wasn't used to this kind of situation. Granted, he trained day in and day out, so he wasn't completely retarded, but he needed a good chunk of seconds to gather his wits and start thinking rationally. "Quistis! The chain, quickly!" He barked out, jumping down form the crane control platform and darting after the Raldo.

Quistis didn't think, she acted on reflexes trained at Garden. Fast and accurate she unlocked the chain and threw it over the truck where Squall caught it in mid air. She had no idea what he was up to, but she had confidence in him. Still, she wanted to help him the best she could. First things first though, she thought. "Get in the truck and stay there!" Quistis barked at Zell, Fujin and Raijin, whom complied immediately.

The Raldo was fast, changing from running to rolling, getting the maximum out of the terrain's layout. Squall was grateful that he'd spent so many hours in the gym, otherwise there was no way he'd be able to keep up. Still, he wasn't gaining, he was in fact struggling to keep up. This couldn't go on for much longer. If he'd screwed up now, he'd never hear the end of it from Seifer.

Using the chain as a lasso, Squall swung it over his head as he looked up ahead. A small uphill, good. That meant that the Raldo would have to stop rolling and start running. If he got it right, Squall could get the lasso around the Raldo's neck and bring it to a halt. From there... well it would be anyone's guess.

Just as Squall had predicted, the Raldo stopped rolling and started running as soon as it noticed a change in the terrain. Squall threw the lasso forward, not as cool looking as in the movies, but hey, at least he caught what he was aiming for. He'd worry about public appearances later.

The Raldo was strong as a horse to say the least. Even though Squall held on tight and leaned back as far as he could in an attempt to slow the beast down, all it took was one short yank and Squall was tumbling forward. Grumbling with disgust, the Raldo tried to shake off the loose chain around its neck. Squall used the moment to secure his footing and tighten his grip on the chain.

Then, he pulled with all his might. Sensing resistance in the chain, the Raldo carried on with its private stampede. This time however, Squall was ready for it. Not that it helped much, but at least this time Squall wasn't staggering forward like some dumb cowboy.

The streets in Balamb are laid with stone bricks, not the traditional asphalt that you find in other cities. This makes the street seem more homey and less urban. Over time, maintenance is required to keep the bricks in place. How unfortunate for Squall that he caught the Raldo in the middle of a side-street that hasn't seen such maintenance for far too long.

Soon Squall's feet were caught in a crack, a section in the street where several rocks were missing and only loose gravel was put to fill the gap for the time being. Squall leaned his feet on the edge of the bricks. It was a sound plan, since now he had a even better foothold than before. Earlier, the Raldo had simply dragged Squall around, though at a slower pace.

Things were going his way, at least for a good 32 seconds. It didn't take long for the weakest link in the chain to fail. In this case it wasn't Squall's feet, his foothold nor his grip on the chain itself. It wasn't the chain either and the Raldo seemed to have nearly unlimited stamina. It was the stone bricks that gave away. Having their maintenance neglected for so long, they quickly failed under the high pressure and shot out from their sockets.

Squall was once again dragged around in the streets of Balamb, only this time pulling stone bricks up from the streets with his feet as he went down towards the harbour. It hurt a lot, since his legs functioned as cushioning and his heels went numb with pain.

As he was dragged by a street light, a bright idea came to mind. Squall took a quick sideways jump, as his holding back effort were gone, the Raldo quickly picked up the pace. Its wild adventure on the town however, was brought to a brutal and sudden halt as Squall twisted the chain several times around a nearby street light.

Unable to understand its situation, the Raldo carried on pulling the chain, but this time it didn't budge. Raldo's aren't the smartest monster in the world. A scared and confused Raldo like this one is even likelier to be able to understand what's going on. Rational thinking vaporizers as sheer instinct takes charge. The Raldo kept on pulling the chain until it nearly hung itself with the chain.

In the end, it just collapsed, taking deep hissing breaths and drooling badly. Squall felt his feet trembling, his hands were shaking visibly and he was sweating like a pig in a spa. "Squall!" Quistis came up to him. She looked worried, but that was something Squall had grown used to. He could hardly take a pee without her worrying about something, or at least that was his impression.

Lets see, now comes the same old routine, Squall thought as he was calming his panting down. "Are you okay? You're not hurt?" Quistis put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and bent down so that their faces met. He shrugged her off, looking away. A few steps remained between them, Quistis fidgeting with her hands, looking quite worried indeed.

Squall didn't care. He didn't want anything to do with her or the others for that matter. Taking deep breaths, Squall managed to calm his body down. It would still take some time to get all the adrenalin out of his system. What a rush, he thought. "Whoa! You actually brought that thing down, on your own!" Zell and the others came down to join Quistis.

Receiving cheering and congratulations from these... people, for a brief moment Squall wished that the Raldo had turned and bitten his head clean off. It would have been so much simpler then. "We should head back." He said, dusting off his jacket and heading back to the truck.

An improvised welding job later and the third Raldo was secured in its crate. Quistis took off with the truck, promising to explain everything to headmaster Cid, should there be any fuzz about them being so late. Normally whomever was involved would have thanked Quistis for her efforts, but Squall remained stone cold mute and indifferent as always.

He cast a glance at the 3 new students at Garden. For the first time he actually took time to study Fujin and Raijin more carefully. Raijin was tall and dark-skinned, his hair was black and kept short and his muscular frame was somewhat impressive. Fujin on the other hand was just about as tall as Squall himself. Her waist long white hair seemed light and well cared for. Her brown eyes were in strong contrast to her rather pale skin and her frame was average built for girls at her age.

"Shouldn't we be going?" She asked Squall shyly. I guess she looks up to me now, after that show I pulled, Squall thought. He'd have to stay away from Balamb too for the whole semester, if not even the whole year. The last thing he wanted was to be stopped in the middle of the street to be thanked by some stranger for what he did today. He'd have to wait until it was a faded memory. This town would talk about it for weeks to come. He should have left it to Quistis after all.

The four young students started their walk back to what would be their home away from home. Squall never really saw the point in him leading the way for the others up to Garden. After all, there was only ONE road that lead to Garden and thanks to the 6 feet tall fence surrounding the road, chances were pretty slim that they'd run into any troublesome monsters on the way.

Cold-hearted to just leave them there, on their own? Life doesn't promise a bed of roses, the sooner you realize this the better. At least that was what Squall felt about the issue. For the first half hour the gang had tried to get to know Squall better, with minimal success. Still, minding his manners just a little bit, Squall told them that he was on the lookout for monsters. He assured them that chances for one to show up were slim, but better to be safe than sorry.

Needless to say, with the incident with the Raldo back in Balamb fresh in memory, the gang quickly left Squall do his thing in more or less complete silence. Raijin needed to take a pee break, and Squall firmly denied to follow him behind the bushes. "Just scream if you need anything." Squall sighed, feeling his patience evaporating fast. A quick two minutes later the gang sat out once more.

The whole trip seemed to be passing on without any events worth mentioning, at least that's what it looked like until the group was just 20 minutes away from Garden. Zell, Raijin and Fujin didn't notice, but Squall's ears were trained to pick up sounds of combat. It was a bit off, but it was definitively someone fighting something. The deep bass roaring sounded much like a T-Rexaur. Squall had heard it several times in the training area, but never had the "pleasure" of meeting one head on.

To keep the edge sharp with its students, Garden often dispatched candidates along with SeeD's to bring certain monsters back to Garden, alive and with minimal injuries so that they could be confined within the training area as practice subjects.

This itself was more a challenge than simply bringing a beast down. Perhaps this was such a fight? No, it didn't add up. For starters, the fight sounded too savage. Whomever was fighting was fighting with no strings attached, neither side was holding back.

Also, Garden always dispatched a team, a small squad for such missions. It strengthen the sense of teamwork and increased the chances for success. This sounded like a one on one fight. Besides, there was something awfully familiar about the sound of the attacker. To be certain, Squall had to get closer, within visual range.

Glancing over at the others, he could tell that they were nervous. After all, Squall had suddenly stopped as if he caught the sent of something. Thinking that perhaps a 3 headed lizard with purple wings and spitting out bolts of thunder would come and fry them alive, they had every right to be nervous.

"There's a fight going on not far from here. I want to go and check it out." The 3 shrunk together at his words. "You don't have to come with me, you'll be safe as long as you stay on the road, though if the fight is involving the person and opponent I think it is, there won't be another monster around for miles." Squall told them, and then he took off. A bit afraid and uncertain, one by one they decided to follow him. Curiosity killed the cat, Squall thought to himself as he climbed the protective fence of the road.

They came to a small ridge and it was clear from the sounds, that the fight was going on, low, down and dirty right below the ridge. Squall laid flat on his belly and crawled forward, under the cover of some bushes. The others followed his lead, and came up around on his sides.

Peeking down through the roots of the bushes, Squall and the others saw a fiercely battle take place. Zell, Fujin and Raijin was struck with awe, and even Squall had to admit that this guy knew his homework. Feeling confident that the area around them was secure, Squall stood up to get a better view. Hesitantly, the others also rose to their feet.

The T-Rexaur was a large beast on two legs, a massive tail and two shorter arms near its chest. Its head alone was on average 5' long and strangely enough the female were the big ones, nearly 1/3 larger than their respective "husbands". "Hyne that thing's huge." Zell mumbled in amazement.

It came around for another attack, but the student dashed away from its range with ease. He moved with a sense of confidence, grace and border lining to perfection with his outmaneuvering of the opponent. "Holy... I've never seen anything like it, not even in the movies. Who is this guy?" Fujin said, equally amazed as Zell, if not even more.

Squall's eyes narrowed. "Seifer, Seifer Almasy." He said with an edge to his voice. Seifer was good, there was no denying it. Only the blind and stupid would claim otherwise. In the 13 year old history of Garden, there were no one equal to Seifer. A natural born warrior, through and through.

Seifer slashed with his blade, a cold metallic clinging sound stung in the ears of Squall and the others. The T-Rexaur shrieked in pain, taking a step back. Blood started to paint the grass dark red as the beast had several cuts over its body. "C'mon, c'mon little lizard. Uncle Seifer's got what you need." He said, smirking with confidence.

The T-Rexaur was apparently tired of playing games. By now it had noticed that it couldn't afford to play with what it had first thought of as easy prey. A simple hunt for lunch had developed into a fight to the death. It spun around, it's tail swishing through the air at great speed.

It was an unexpected move, a deviation from the standard way a T-Rexaur thought and acted. Seifer was hit in a blind spot. His Protect spell flashed into life, shielding out most of the damage. Even so, Seifer got the winds knocked out of him and was sent flying backwards into a nearby stone quarry. As his back hit the stone wall, the Protect spell flashed into life once more, and again taking most of the damage.

Fujin couldn't take it, and on reflex she called out: "LOOK OU...!" Squall quickly put his arm around her shoulders and firmly planted his hand over her mouth. "Don't! You'll just distract him." Squall hissed angrily. Fujin glared at him. "It could cost him his life." He explained, feeling her glare on his face. Fujin's glare faded into a worried "but-but-but" look, clearly not too happy with Squall's reason for shutting her up.

Squall didn't pay attention to Fujin. His eyes were locked on Seifer, who was currently laying flat on the ground, face down. "He'll get up..." Squall muttered. "He always comes up..." And while the T-Rexaur was stomping towards what it assumed was a defeated prey, Seifer got up with style. He leaped high into the air, much, much higher than what a normal human could ever dream of jumping. "WHOA! How did he do that!" Zell exclaimed.

You've junctioned Float spells, haven't you Seifer? You don't have access to those spells yet. Did you break into the draw point storage again? I wonder which GF you've snuck off with this time, Squall thought as he watch Seifer make his landing and prepare for his next move.

"Surprised you dumb mutt! Well don't be, 'cause there's no way I'm loosing to a pathetic reptile such as yourself!" Seifer gloated. His confident smile faded a little once he noticed that in all the stylish escapade, he'd forgotten to bring his weapon with him. "Bah, as if that's ever stopped me before." He snorted.

By now the T-Rexaur had gathered its wits and went on a straight forward charge, jaws wide open, drool dripping and bad breath of rotten flesh smelling from deep within its throat. "Brush your teeth freak, you'll get laid more often!" Seifer taunted, before he dashed away with lightning speed.

When the T-Rexaur slammed its jaws shut, it just bit a lot of empty air. Squall was impressed. Seifer needed at least 30 Haste spells on Speed in order to make that kind of move. It was also possible that he'd casted Haste upon himself, but since Squall didn't have any Scan spells available there was no way to be certain unless Seifer was questioned after the fight.

Seifer had reclaimed his bladed weapon and was eager as a little schoolboy to get on with the program. "One roasted T-Rexaur coming up!" Seifer grinned and sent 3 fireballs flying towards the tall beast. Each one was a direct hit, raising the monsters rage even further.

Triple status as well? Squall had barely heard of the Double status, but Triple was something he'd thought impossible. The amount of concentration it takes to cast one spell is fair enough with the proper training, with Double you need twice as much concentration (basic maths really), and here Seifer stood, pulling of a Triple spell as if it was hardly an effort.

With three fresh second degree burn wounds on its back, the T-Rexaur spun around once more, raising a cloud of dust and minor debris went dancing through the dust clouds. Blinded by the dust, Seifer lost sight of his target. His eyes were pouring out rivers of tears, a clear sign that he had lots of sand in his eyes.

The T-Rexaur didn't waste a second. With its large head, it went as low as it could and struck at Seifer with an upward arch. Seifer was knocked on the top of the stonewall he'd collided with earlier, and again he lost his bladed weapon. It swirled around in mid air, before stabbing itself deep into the ground, several dozen feet away from the heart of the fight.

"Can't we do something, you know, like... anything?" Raijin demanded, as the thrills of this genuine battle was far more than he could take. "Even if I could, I wouldn't help him." Squall replied, still struggling a little to keep Fujin calm. "Why not? Are you really that heartless!" Zell asked in an outrage. "Not really. Though if I, however unlikely did help Seifer now, he'd kill me for doing so." Squall replied indifferently.

Though Squall was worried. As far as he could tell, Seifer's Protect spell had worn off, since it didn't flash when the T-Rexaur knocked him upwards, nor when he landed. Maybe he should intervene after all, but how? Make a mad dash for Seifer's blade? To what end? He couldn't use it with enough skill to represent a reasonable threat.

The T-Rexaur was about to pick up Seifer with its jaws, then as it always did to its prey, it would shake it from side to side until the prey was shredded. "Don't... you... EVER... drool on me... BOY!" Seifer panted, and with those words, he sent a Thunder bolt flying straight into the monsters mouth.

It stood still for a brief second, until gravity claimed its right and the body collapsed under its own weight. Seifer, though messed up and slightly beaten, stood up and remained standing. "HOLY...! Did you see that! Did you really SEE THAT! Oh right! AWSEOME! He did it!" Zell was totally out of it, not knowing what to say or what to do. Raijin and Fujin just stood there in gaping shock, surprise and amazement.

Good, the newcomers have found themselves another idol, a much better idol. They'll leave me alone form now on, I hope, Squall thought and sighed with a sense of relief. Looking up to the tiny ridge, Seifer noticed that he'd a small audience. He gave them a short wave with his hand before he headed towards his blade.

"I've got to meet this dude!" Zell said and strode off. Fujin looked at Squall as if asking if it was okay. Squall just made a small face, saying it was okay. Soon the newcomers gathered around Seifer, while Squall strolled by and settled with taking a closer look at Seifer's weapon.

"Newcomers huh? A bit old to join now, aren't you?" Seifer frowned. It was true that Garden took in students all the way down to 5 years old, though only the first generation of SeeD's were of this age. They weren't many, in fact it was just Squall, Quistis and Seifer that was considered first generation SeeD's.

They had been at Garden from the very beginning. There were older SeeD's of course, but these had been requited from the Sorceress War, so there wasn't much combat training required. Once they got the hang of Junction and magic, they graduated.

Squall and the others had to learn everything from scratch, but they all seemed to be doing just fine with that. In fact, both Squall and Seifer was considered among the best in Garden. Not to mention that Quistis was the only SeeD candidate south of Trabia that mastered Blue Magic.

Zell, Fujin and Raijin all eagerly lined up their reasons for joining SeeD. According to Fujin, there was once a man that mastered both the art of combat and magic during the final stages of the Sorceress War. He was known as the "Monster Hunter of Winhill." On a daily basis he'd walk through town several times, keeping monsters away.

Being inspired by this local legend, Fujin and Raijin decided that they both wanted to be just as skilled as their idol, the monster hunter. Zell on the other hand was motivated by his late grandfather's efforts during the same war. "Really? I don't see how a guy with Chocobo droppings for brains can ever live up to the efforts made by a veteran soldier." Seifer snorted unimpressed.

"WHAT WAS THAT!" Zell was trembling with rage, causing both Raijin and Fujin to back away. Zell's shouting even caught Squall's attention, and he was a good 30 feet away from the debate. "Well, at least you get to see the inside of the infirmary. We need guys like you, Zell. You know, so that the nurses and doctors get plenty of experience patching people up." Seifer said with a sarcastic look in his eyes.

Zell said nothing, but it was clear to anyone with more than half an eye in their heads that Zell was boiling over. He was so angry, he couldn't find the words and even if he did, he wouldn't know where to start. "What's the matter? Did the Moomba catch your tongue?" Seifer asked, having trouble keeping his face straight.

At that point, Zell lost it and sent his right clenched fist flying towards Seifer's face. "Tsk, amateurish." Seifer sighed as he dodged with ease. Since Zell didn't hit anything he lost his point of balance and as he was struggling to stay on his feet, Seifer saw his window for an attack. "Pick someone on your own size, chicken-wuzz." Seifer gloated as he, with a snap of his fingers, hit Zell with a Thunder spell.

The spell wasn't very strong, nor was it a critical hit, but being inexperienced and without any means for defense, Zell cried in pain before collapsing on the ground, smoke rising from his clothes. "That is, assuming that there's another soul equally pathetic." Seifer added before heading over to Squall. Fujin and Raijin stood paralyzed for a long moment, before helping Zell back on his feet.

Squall had observed Seifer's treatment of the newcomers from afar, and although he didn't actually approve of such ruthless means, he hadn't made the slightest effort to get in Seifer's way. It wasn't that Squall was afraid of Seifer, or that he looked up to Seifer so much that he didn't mind. It was more like, it wasn't his table, so why get involved? Zell's lack of anger management had got him in trouble.

"They don't make them like they used to." Seifer sighed, rubbing his temple as if Zell's behavior was giving him a splitting headache. Squall said nothing, he just took his eyes off Seifer and looked into Seifer's black blade with a hint of fascination in his eyes. "A thing of real beauty, so I guess I can't blame you for drooling over it." Seifer laughed. "Still." He added and picked up his blade. "It's an adult toy, so be a good boy and watch but don't touch, 'kay?" Seifer said as if he was talking to a little child, while patting Squall on the head.

Squall got back on his feet, glaring a little at Seifer, but again remained mute. "Listen stiff-stick, I assume that you're aiming for the gunblade as well." Seifer said, not backing down from Squall's glaring. Squall kept silent, his eyes avoiding Seifer's. "Always scrambling about for the silver medal, aren't you?" Seifer taunted. "There are no silver medals in the race I'm participating in." Squall mumbled. "Tough luck, 'cause I've already won the gold medal." Seifer flashed a quick smirk.

We're not in the same race, Squall thought but said nothing. "Well then, come on kids, handsome ol' Seifer will give you a lift back home." He said, obviously tired of Squall's lack of response. "So you did take the car last night." Squall muttered. "I didn't take it, I borrowed it." Seifer called over his shoulder.

"Aren't you coming?" Fujin asked Squall. Squall just shook his head. Seifer would probably gloat like there was no tomorrow for the whole trip. Squall'd rather walk that to listen to Seifer's many wild stories. "Well then, see you at Garden then." Fujin said, waving goodbye before running after Seifer and Raijin. "Mind if I tag along with you?" Zell said to Squall. Should have stayed in bed, Squall thought.


	2. Sleeping Lion

**Sleeping Lion**

By the time Squall and Zell arrived at Garden, all the students had gathered in the ball hall to listen to headmaster Cid's annual speech. The speech was reaching its conclusion and although Zell showed some sign of interest, Squall remained indifferent. He'd heard the speech so many times he knew it by heart. Though there had been some variations to it, as the political and military landscape had shifted over the years.

In a nutshell, the speech was about what it meant to be a SeeD and SeeD's role on the global stage of political and military power. The do's and do not's where addressed, as well as pointing out the many risks involved.

However, headmaster Cid always assured his students that he and his staff always did their very best to ensure the safe return of SeeD's dispatched on missions. Whether it was negotiations with terrorists, diplomats or military officials, Garden was known for "leaving no man or woman behind, no matter the odds."

"Hey Squall, is that stuff true? That they never ever leave a SeeD behind?" Zell asked, nudging Squall in the side. The headmaster had no reason to lie, did he, Squall thought. Granted they might not come for you right away. Negotiations could drag on for weeks, months and sometimes a few years, but they'd come for you. The trick was to hang in there until they came.

Although it sounded all good and nice on paper, reality was a little different. The back side of the medal was that the mission, the clients instructions always took priority. Get the job done, no matter the cost. Should you be left behind, they'd come for you, but only if the job was done. If the mission was a failure because of your capture, they might "wait a while" before extraction took place.

That way they could discipline you to get the job done better next time, since captives from military operations aren't known to be the best hosts in this world. In the end, Garden was a huge money making machine, though there was no money in failure.

The speech came to an end, always ending in applause form the students. Newcomers were asked to remain for the checking of luggage and dorm room assignment. Also it gave them a good 2 hours to chat and get to know each other a little better. It just isn't worth it, Squall thought to himself as he watched Zell happily walk into the ball hall to make some friends.

Seifer came out from the crowd, flanked by two Garden Faculties. Off to the discipline cell again I assume, Squall mused to himself as Seifer walked past him. "Hey Squall, lets have a little round of "do-or-die" when I get out." Seifer called after him. Squall said nothing in reply. "Perhaps I can make a soldier out of you after all." He smirked before one of the Garden Faculty nudged him to move on. "Watch it, or do you want the tooth fairy to make you a billionaire tonight?" Seifer grunted.

Squall was on his way to the cafeteria to have a quick snack before the new students decided to move around and explore their new academy, when the Garden intercom buzzed to life. "Squall Leonhart, please meet at the headmaster's office. I repeat, Squall Leonhart, please meet at the headmaster's office. Thank you." Odd, Squall thought. Sessions with the headmaster was usually reserved for graduates, SeeD's whom are just to be dispatched or have returned from missions, instructors, Garden Faculties or respective clients.

Squall was just a SeeD candidate, granted a very talented SeeD candidate, but still... Perhaps it was about the incident at Balamb this morning? Or a second testimony regarding Seifer's violation of curfew and little get-away with the Garden car? Both of them made sense and both were rather minor issues that needed to be addressed. Squall was just a little puzzled that he'd to answer to the headmaster directly rather than a Garden Faculty.

He'd never been to the third floor before. It was something like, the holiest of the holy kind of place. The elevator came to a halt and the doors opened with a small dinging sound announcing its arrival. Squall peeked down the hall. A richly decorated carpet lied on the floor, ending up at a equally decorated red double door.

Walking up to the door, Squall was about to knock when all the sudden the doors opened on their own. Neat, but impractical Squall thought to himself. "...and the Winhill governor wishes to expand the current contract for another 15 months." Headmaster Cid seemed to be in a meeting with a Garden Faculty. "Can they afford it?" Cid sounded concerned.

The Garden Faculty glanced down on his papers. "If they make some budget adjustments, they can make it just fine." He replied. "No, I don't want that. Give them 250.000 gils in credit." Headmaster Cid said. "But sir!" The Garden Faculty objected. "No buts, I'll make master NORG understand." Cid said firmly. Just then he noticed Squall standing in the doorway.

"Well come on in Squall, there's something I wanted to talk to you about." Cid said as he shooed away the Garden Faculty. As the doors closed behind him, Squall took a look around the room. It was large, well lit since most of the roof was made of glass and richly decorated with beautiful patterns on the walls and furniture.

Headmaster Cid went into the back and came back with a large black leather suitcase. "So tell me Squall, what weapon will you choose to specialize in?" He asked Squall as he put the suitcase on a table. "I'll apply for Gunblade specialist, sir." Squall replied, still puzzling over why he was here. "Ah good, good. That's good." Cid sounded happy with his reply.

What was the headmaster's angle? "Squall, you know that you're very special to us here at Garden, right?" Cid said, stroking the suitcase with loving care. "Special, sir?" Squall didn't quite follow. "You know that with all the 3 Gardens, we've people representing every combat art known to man. Except one." Cid explained. Squall could see where this was going, but it still didn't make much sense.

"Sir, according to Garden records, there have been several students that have applied for Gunblade specialist in the past." Squall pointed out. "You know your history, very good. You will also know that the same records state that not one ever graduated." Cid said. It was true. On average, the past students have dropped out of that class after only completing 5-9 of the syllabus.

"But I think that will change in the years to come." Headmaster Cid smiled, taking a seat behind his desk. "Sir?" Squall looked a little out of it. "Oh don't play dumb with me Squall. You're the best in your class, you learn fast, have basically a perfect record and are in short ideal for the Gunblade specialist class." Cid objected. "Not to mention that there's also Seifer to consider. He's your equal, isn't he?" He added.

Seifer had issues, Squall'd be the first to admit. Still there was no denial of his talent and skills in the field. Too bad he had an ego on the size of the universe. "So it's with this in mind that I've pulled in a few favours from an old friend of mine." Cid said and nodded towards the suitcase. "I want to provide you two with best equipment and instructors money can buy." He carried on.

Hesitantly, Squall walked up to the suitcase and rested his hand on its lid. "It's yours Squall, use it well." He heard headmaster Cid say from behind his desk. Squall clicked the two locks open and slowly lifted the lid. Inside rested a silver Gunblade with 6 silver coloured bullets to boot. The handle was black with silver screws in it, with cavities on it so that it would fit better in the hands. The weapon it self was a fusion of a huge revolver and heavy blade from a two-handed sword.

Squall was almost moved to tears. It was so beautiful, just as he'd imagined. Still he took a deep breath and gathered his composure. He could cry of joy later, in private. "Thank you sir." Squall said from the bottom of his heart. "I hope that you not only graduate, Squall, but also that you'll stay with SeeD long after your graduation." Cid said, also slightly moved by the mood that rested in the room.

Closing the suitcase, Squall turned around. "Was that all?" He asked. "Yes, at least for now. I've sent various papers, sheets, manuals and details regarding your training program to your room. Please study them well so that you're fully prepared for tomorrow." Headmaster Cid said. Squall bowed to the headmaster as an expression of his thanks. "That is all, dismissed." Headmaster Cid said. After a quick salute, Squall took the suitcase and left for his room.

Upon arriving at his room, Squall found two surprises. The first one was that his room was a total mess. Piles of books, manuals, sheets, pieces of paper, crates of spare ammo and some items he'd never seen in his life was stacked into his room.

Under normal circumstances, Squall would have been royally pissed at anyone going into his room without permission, but right now he didn't care too much. Though he was quite overwhelmed over the amount of material he was going to sort out before curfew kicked in.

The second surprise was his brand new room-mate. SeeD's had their own rooms, but SeeD candidates were often confined into rooms of 2, 3 or 4. They all had their own bedroom, but they shared common areas such as bathroom, living room and wardrobe. "Yo! Squall, a bunch of guys just waltzed right in and put a lot of stuff in your room. You okay with that?" Zell asked, standing in the bathroom doorway brushing his teeth.

"Yeah, it's fine." Squall grunted before going into his room, slamming the door hard. "Doesn't look like it though..." Zell said to himself. Oh well, if he wants help all he has to do is ask, Zell thought before going back into the bathroom.

Squall had been sorting out his new prescribed texts, spare ammo, weapons maintenance kit and other gadgets for several hours when there was a knock on his door. At least now he could see the bed. "What?" He grumbled as he tried to figure out how to open the spare ammo crate.

The door opened and Quistis popped her head in. "You want some supper or what?" She asked him. When she noticed all the stash in his room, her eyes widened. "I heard you were given a lot of material, but this is..." She was at a loss for words. That babble-mouth Zell had probably spread the word from here to kingdom-come, Squall mentally groaned. "I'm not hungry." Squall pouted as he returned his attention to the ammo crate.

Quistis frowned at his reply. "So do you want me to hold off some food for you? I'm in the cafeteria committee you know." She suggested in a shyly manner. Squall paused and thought it over. Would he ever live to see the day when Quistis would finally take a no for a no? Annoyed over Quistis' lacking ability to take a hint, Squall remained silent and patiently waited for Quistis to leave.

However she didn't. "Yes?" Squall sighed after a good 5 minutes had passed. "You still haven't answered..." She began, making Squall turn around and glare at her. If a picture can say more than a thousand words, a facial expression is able to say more than ten-thousand words. When Quistis finally left, Squall felt a genuine sense of relief.

It wasn't until the intercom announcing that curfew was now effective that Squall noticed that he was in fact starving. No use in crying over spilt milk, as he had only himself to blame. He dug around a bit and found some of his emergency food stashed in a corner. Chewing down some dry crackers, Squall absent-mindedly browsed through his training program manual.

At page 45, Squall stopped and almost chocked. There it stood in clear black letters the name of his new instructor. Not only was his instructor a she, but it was also Tsugumi Yuki, a.k.a. "Big T" or "Tyrant." She was an Estharian army deserter and after the war she teamed up the the Galbadian army. However, once Galbadia Garden was started, she transferred and has been there ever since.

The reason why she often was referred to as "Tyrant" was the fact that she was absolutely ruthless in her training. A good 85 of her students dropped out, they couldn't keep up with her ever increasing demands. For those selected few that managed to hang in there and graduate however, even in Gardens ranks you'd have to look long and hard for finer fighters.

Squall was intimidated at first, but it fade over into a sense of honour. Gunblade specialists were originally reserved to the Estharian royal guard, leaded by the Sorceress' knight. These were top notch fighters, each soldier fine tuned to perfection, a one man army in his own right.

Before the war, Galbadia and Esthar had worked close together and cultural exchange did take place. Parts of the Galbadian army did even take in the art of Gunblade specialist. Although they were nowhere near the Estharian royal guard, they could at the very least hold and swing the weapons without cutting themselves... too often.

Since the weapons where hard to make, harder to master and rather clumsy to use unless you devoted every woken minute to training, the project was discarded the moment the war broke out. The elegant Gunblade's were left in bunkers, replaced by more efficient weapons, such as sub-machine-guns, anti-personnel vehicles and surface-to-air-missiles.

Rumour had it that instructor Tsugumi had taken part in a battle against the Estharian royal guard. Two whole battalions, 1200 men, collided with the Estharian royal guard head on on the Centra Plains. A battle that huge usually lasts a full day, this one was over in 90 minutes. Of the 1200 men that fought against the royal guard, only 3 made it out alive.

Seifer had followed her program through the Net all last year, since she had a full class at Galbadia Garden by the time headmaster Cid had sent a request for her services, and couldn't make it. Although Seifer had been given a great deal of slack, since he didn't have instructor Tsugumi breathing down his neck, he'd produced impressive results nevertheless.

It would all start tomorrow, straight after breakfast. Lying down in bed, Squall looked up at the ceiling. Tomorrow he thought to himself, it really starts. He could hardly wait...

The cafeteria was bubbling with life, more than usual. On the other hand it was quite usual at this time of the year. After all, there were a lot of new faces, all excited over having spent their first night in one of the finest military academies in the world.

Since the cafeteria was so crowded, it was impossible for Squall to find himself a quiet corner. He'd ended up with Quistis and Zell as his breakfast-buddies. Letting out another depressing sounding sigh, Squall chewed down some bacon while trying his best to shut out all the background noise that hung over the cafeteria.

Quistis and Zell on the other hand, chatted happily about this and that. Occasionally they tried to bring Squall into the conversation, but ended up failing miserably at ever attempt. "Honestly though, I think my jacket is too short for me." Zell said. "Really? It looks fine to me." Quistis said, putting some more sugar in her tea. "Wash your glasses girl, these sleeves are miles too short." Zell pouted. "You make it sound like you're wearing a T-shirt." Quistis giggled.

Squall felt like his breakfast was coming up again, so sick did their chatting make him. Why did they do this? Bond, smile and nod to one another? Hypocrites, every last one of them. At the end of the day, you're on your own. Friendship and love that lasts to the very, very bitter end was a lie, an illusion that blinded the fools of this world. They'll learn it, the hard way, if they'll learn at all, Squall thought.

Suddenly someone whacked Squall in the back of his head with a folded newspaper. "Do-or-die-time, stiff-stick." Seifer beamed at Squall as he turned around. Squall remembered that Seifer had talked about it the day before, but he couldn't be serious, could he? After all, class would start soon and there was no way Squall'd miss the chance to make a good first impression.

Seifer just wasn't worth it. So, calm and unaffected by Seifer's challenge, Squall rose from his chair, gathered his things and walked over to the counter to deliver the dishes to the chefs. "Running away, Squall? Scared? Admitting defeat and incompetence?" Seifer called after him. Squall was boiling inside, struggling to remain calm and keeping his face straight.

The mute tension between the two titans at Balamb Garden caught everyone's attention and soon the cafeteria fell silent. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for what will happen next. "Oh knock it off Seifer, act your age for once." Quistis said. "Tsk, fine. Whatever you say, Queen the weak." Seifer bowed down as he spoke with a sarcastic tone of voice.

People let out a sigh of relief, as Seifer gave the impression that he was leaving. As he walked past Squall, their shoulders collided, causing Squall to loose his balance just a little. He didn't fall, but his dishes slid off the plate and smashed on the floor. "Awh c'mon Squall, how old are you anyway?" Seifer said, as if it was Squall's fault.

At that point something snapped inside Squall's mind. "Old enough not to take any crap from the likes of you." He mumbled. "Pardon? I have a real problem with hearing the words of morons and loser's." Seifer said, bringing his hand to his ear as if he really tired to catch what Squall had said.

Squall took the plastic plate in his hands and smacked it flat in Seifer's face. The cafeteria crowd roared in excitement. A fight on their first breakfast at Garden. Seifer wasn't late in returning the favour, this time with a closed fist. Squall dodged and caught his wrist. He quickly twisted it around, bringing Seifer to his knees.

Panting heavily, trying cope with the pain in his arm, Seifer started laughing. A laughter that was uncomfortably close to the laughter of the insane. "You're 150 years too young to beat me Squall!" He yelled as he broke free and tackled Squall. The two of them crashed backwards into the cafeteria, Squall at the bottom with Seifer on-top. Chairs, tables, dishes and glasses of juice flew about.

The girls screamed, the guys roared and cheered. Quistis tried to break through the crowd to break off the fight, but it was no use. A ring of rooting freshmen students gathered around the two fighting senior students. "C'mon, lets see what you've got, if you've got anything at all." Seifer said, gesturing with his hand that Squall should just bring it on.

Both of them had good reflexes, so it was hard for either of them to get in a punch or kick. A naked fist fight followed, though most of the kicks and punches were either blocked or dodged. Seifer pirouetted around his own axis with his left arm stretched out and fist fully clenched. It hit Squall hard at the side of his head, just by his ear.

The impact itself, plus the additional air shock wave came as a shock to Squall. Not being used to unleashed combat, Squall staggered backwards. "Humph... just another weakling after all." Seifer snorted with a disgusted tone of voice. I... am... NOT... weak! The words rang through Squall's dizzy and disorientated mind.

Squall fumbled around for the first and best he could get his hands on, which in this case was a chair. Holding it at the top of the chair back, he raised it over his head and swung it as hard as he could in a downward arch. With a loud wham he hit Seifer in the gut. Coughing a little, Seifer grinned. "That's more like it, if you're knocking teeth's out of a mosquito's mouth." He laughed, still standing.

He'd go in for another round with the chair, but a loud screamed brought the whole cafeteria to a complete stand still. "HOLD IT RIGHT THRERE!" A woman dressed in a SeeD uniform paraded into the heart of the commotion. Her raven black hair was put in a sideways ponytail on her right side, and twisted loosely around her neck and shoulders. Too keep the hair in place, she had a red silk ribbon corkscrewed around it.

Squall dropped the chair he was holding and Seifer looked somewhat insulted over at this new woman. "Excuse me." Quistis came up to the SeeD and whispered something in her ear. "You're a kind-hearted young lady, but you're talking to me as if I give a damn, which I don't." The SeeD said sharply. "Gentlemen, I want to know what happened, when and why." She snapped at Squall and Seifer.

The two exchanged somewhat embarrassed glances, not one of them wanting to start. "Mute embarrassment, is that it!" The SeeD barked at them, making both of them jump a little. Who was she? No one at Garden talk like that. She was so... harsh, cold, direct and blunt. "My office, pronto!" She yelled, and the two of them had no choice by to comply.

The moment they arrived at the instructors office, they were shoved inside and she slammed the door hard behind her. "Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy." She said after leaning on her desk, crossing her arms over her chest. It was then that they both noticed it. Her right hand wasn't human, it was a crude mechanical replica. Instructor Tsugumi supposedly lost her right arm in the battle against the Estharian royal guard.

Instructor Tsugumi glared at the two of them, making them feel like tiny ants. "For the next two years, you two rascals will be under my care. If I catch you two scrambling about anywhere, any time without my say-so, I'll come down on both of you like a ton of bricks." Her say-so? Did that mean that her training involved the two of them fighting one another?

"Ma'am, if I may say..." Seifer begun, but instructor Tsugumi cut him short. "No Mr Almasy, you may not." Squall took the moment to study her face a little closer. It was the same as any other. Surprisingly enough no visible scars, then again she did miss a whole arm. Her eyes on the other hand, there were something about them. They were so cold, and dead. If Squall didn't know better, he'd say that she'd lost the joyful view of life at some point in her past.

Instructor Tsugumi noticed Squall eyeing her up and down and turned her attention to him. Squall didn't evade her eyes. "Anything you want to say on your behalf, Mr Leonhart?" She asked him. "...not really." He replied. "Not really... so basically, you have something to say, but it is of so little importance it isn't worth spending time on, am I right?" She asked after she'd taken a small moment to reflect over his reply.

Squall hesitated. Now that he thought about it, instructor Tsugumi was right on the dollar. "Yes, you're correct ma'am." He said finally. "Good, I'm glad we sorted that out. Now, I want to hear what you have to say on your behalf, Mr Leonhart." Instructor Tsugumi smirked. Darn it, it was a simple set-up. "I...I was mistaken, ma'am." Squall apologized.

Seifer gave him a weird look, as if he couldn't understand himself on him. "Meet at the quad in 12 gentlemen, freshened up and good to go. Dismissed!" Instructor Tsugumi snapped. Squall and Seifer saluted in union, turned on their heels and left without a word.

They darted back to the boys dorm, took a ultra-fast shower, changed clothes and ran for their dear lives back to the quad. "15 seconds to spare." Instructor Tsugumi noted as she glanced at her watch. "That's quite impressive, for a wooden legged turtle." She added. Squall remained unaffected by her comments, but Seifer was gnashing his teeth.

"I assume that you're aware that I have a 85 drop-out rate in my classes at Galbadia Garden." She began, pacing up and down in front of them. "I want to stress out that that is the statistic for my NORMAL classes, you two on the other hand are aiming to be Gunblade specialists." She carried on, still pacing. "Ergo you're special cases, or students if you'd like. ERGO... I must train you harder than any other student in my career as a Garden instructor." Instructor Tsugumi came to a halt, looking out at the scenery next to the quad.

On her left hand side, Squall and Seifer stood, giving her all ears. "What conclusion can we draw from this, Mr Almasy?" She asked him. "Ma'am?" Seifer didn't understand the question. "Two words, Mr Almasy. The conclusion consists of only two words. No... Mercy." She supplied.

A pause followed, at first Squall thought it was because instructor Tsugumi wanted to give them a moment to let her words sink in, but that wasn't the case. She was looking around for something. "Gentlemen, where are your blades?" She asked a little baffled. Squall and Seifer exchanged glances, each asking the other "We were suppose to bring our Gunblades?"

Instructor Tsugumi just clapped her hands a few times once she noticed their uncertainty. "Oh well, we'll just run around the track a few times instead." She said smiling innocently. Squall and Seifer learned that instructor Tsugumi's definition of "a few times" boiled down to 15 rounds around the track, give or take 3.

When dinner was served, Seifer and Squall was so hungry that they were both trembling and almost seeing double. Running around in the late summer sun all day long, with little if anything for breakfast and not allowed to have lunch because they'd forgotten their Gunblades had really taken its toll on the two youngsters.

The two of them gulped down whatever food they could come over, eating enough for 6 people. Their table manners also flew out the window during their feast. "Well, at least they're not fighting over the food." Zell sighed at the sight of the odd duo at the dinner table. Quistis didn't like the look of this, but what could she do? This was their choice, she had no right to stop them from living their dreams.

As supper drew to an end, instructor Tsugumi took a seat at the same table as Squall and Seifer. "I'll pick you two up at the south gate in 15. Bring swimming outfit and towels." She said as she helped herself with a toothpick.

Squall and Seifer did as they were told, somewhat reluctantly, but they did it nevertheless. Instructor Tsugumi picked them up in a car and they headed off. "We'll round off the day with some rounds in the Balamb swimming hall." She said. Why was she doing this? It didn't make much sense. Was she trying to scare them away? Was it some sort of test? Of how much they could take before cracking up? And when they did, would she ease up on them or keep on going?

Once they had changed their clothing, Squall and Seifer headed out to the pool. It wasn't the biggest pool in the house, but it was the only pool that Garden could reserve for swim practice or drills. Having the whole pool to themselves gave them a sense of luxury, then again they weren't here as spoiled moviestars.

"Alright gentlemen, lets get this show on the roll shall we?" Instructor Tsugumi came out from the ladies dressing room wearing a swimsuit. It was the first time Squall had been so up and close to a mature woman dressed like that, so he unintentionally blushed from head to toe. "You shouldn't do that Squall, you might break something." Seifer smirked.

It was also the first time the two of them saw the full extent of instructor Tsugumi's injured arm. Save a fistful of inches of her shoulder, the whole arm was missing. In its place there was a crude metallic replica that without a doubt served well, but was everything but pleasing to the eye.

"Don't worry boys, I take any accidental "tent-poles" as a compliment." She assured them, though Squall wasn't quite sure what she meant by that. "Now get in the pool and start swimming. You may step out of the pool only to vomit, and when you do, please use this bucket right here." Instructor Tsugumi explained while tapping a dark green bucket.

Hours later, both Squall and Seifer felt like they'd seen the grim reaper at least a dozen times already. Too bad the sucker never had the kindness to take either of them with him whenever he left. "Okay, okay. Out you go, take a shower and be ready to leave in 10." Instructor Tsugumi told them, clapping her hands.

Unlike most instructors, Tsugumi was right in the middle of things. She didn't sit under the parasol sipping her tea and telling her students to run faster. Instead, she was out there with them, on the tracks, in the pool, through the obstacle course and what not. Considering that she was more than twice their age, she easily put Seifer and Squall to shame. Here they were, yet to see the prime of their youth and someone twice your age outperforms you physically.

"So for now you gentlemen get your butts in bed. Since you've spent you entire holiday chasing girls, I expect you to be done with such things and can focus entirely on your studies." Instructor Tsugumi told them as they drove back to Garden before curfew kicked in. Squall was too tired to reply. He had a hard time keeping himself from snoring out loud. Seifer on the other hand was happily sleeping.

Although the day was over for Squall and Seifer, Tsugumi had a few other things on her schedule before she could call it the day. First stop, headmaster Cid's office. "Good evening instructor, how was your day?" Cid greeted her from behind his desk. "Seen worse, not by much though." She replied before flopping herself into a chair.

Headmaster Cid smiled at her answer. "Well, please be a little patient with them. This all new to them." He said sounding a little defensive. "Oh don't worry about it, I'll give them a honest shot. Today I just tested how sharp their fangs were." Tsugumi waved it away with a gesture of her hand as it was nothing.

A pause followed. "Say, have you ordered another gunblade for that Leonhart fellow?" She asked him after a while. "Uhm? No, I didn't order a new one from Galbadia." Cid replied. "Headmaster sir, I must remind you that it's practically impossible to become a gunblade specialists without a gunblade." She pointed out. "I'm fully aware of that instructor. I also know what I'm doing. Your concern is to train those two into gunblade specialists, nothing more." Headmaster Cid ended the subject.

"Well then, here's my first of many, many progress reports on that little dynamic duo you've slapped in my lap." Instructor Tsugumi announced. "Mr Almasy seems to have issues with authorities. He didn't object much to my instructions, but I could tell that he wasn't happy about it. He has a great drive, he just focuses it slightly wrong." She reported. "Can it be altered?" Headmaster Cid asked. "I'm a soldier, not a therapist, sir. I can teach him to keep his wits about him when bullets dance around his ears, but that's all I know about human psychology."

Headmaster Cid sunk back into his chair and nodded his understanding. "As far as Mr Leonhart goes..." Tsugumi said, shifting her seat in the chair. "...he's a little mystery." Headmaster Cid's eyebrows raised at her words. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that he loved ever single stinking second of today's training." She said, although it was clear that her mind was reflecting over what had happened earlier today. "Is that bad?" Headmaster Cid asked.

Tsugumi's eyes met the headmaster's. "No, not really. It's just... very rare, that's all." She said. "At any rate, I'll keep you posted with daily reports headmaster, both verbal and written." Tsugumi sighed before getting out of the chair. "Yes, thank you for your efforts today. Good night Ms Yuki." Headmaster Cid said.

When she reached the door, Tsugumi stopped and turned around. "One more thing." She said, looking down at her right hand. "Yes, what?" Headmaster Cid asked, looking up from his desk. "Thanks for the arm." She winked at him. "You're most welcome." Headmaster Cid smiled back.

Squall had never slept so deeply and well in years. He was totally beat and had fallen asleep before his head hit the pillow. Still feeling dizzy from rising too fast from bed, he took a moment to allow the world to stop spinning. Squall felt like a pile of trash, his body ached in places he didn't even know existed.

This was no time for slacking off however. Today it was his room's turn to wash the dorm and it was their laundry day too. He'll probably miss breakfast because of these chores, but there was no way around it. Granted that Squall didn't pay too much attention to his clothing or how he looked in the eyes of others, but clean underwear is a nice thing to have.

Also, having spiders and dust balls at the size of bunnies under the bed isn't all that good either. The good thing about windows is that you can look both in and out from them, suffice that someone keeps them clean that is.

Zell was sitting in the living room in his pyjamas, looking like a train-wreck. "Morning..." He weakly greeted Squall, who in return said nothing. "No wonder Seifer calls you "stiff-stick"." Zell grunted before turning back to his magazine.

Standing in front of the mirror, Squall looked tired at his own reflection. It was now official, he did look just the way he felt. Suddenly in the background, Squall thought he saw a large figure slip by, but when he turned around to see, there was no one there. That's funny, how could something that big and purple just disappear, he wondered.

After a quick fresher-upper, Squall headed for the cafeteria for a hasty breakfast. For once he had a valid reason not to talk to Quistis, or anyone else in the cafeteria for that matter. At any rate, Squall returned back to his dorm to do the ever boring chores. Dirty laundry went to the washing machines, then there was vacuum cleaning the dorm, followed by washing windows and floors that wasn't covered with wall-to-wall carpet.

Once he was done, Squall picked up his suitcase and headed over to the quad. Hopefully instructor Tsugumi would be more forgiving today than she was yesterday. Though a hunch told Squall that he shouldn't count on it.

When Squall arrived at the quad, he noticed that Seifer was already there. It was no wonder, since Squall and Seifer lived in separate sections in the male dorms and Seifer was known to skip his dorm chores. "Look what the Chocobo dragged in." Seifer noted as he saw Squall climbing down the stairs. "Good morning gentlemen." Instructor Tsugumi hailed them from the quad entrance. Both Squall and Seifer turned around, but instructor Tsugumi was the same old.

"Well then, today we'll look more into your weapons and get on with the basics." She explained. "By the time the sun sets today, you'll at least be able to hold and swing the darn things without cutting yourselves." Squall and Seifer looked at one another, both asking the other "Does she really think we're that hopeless?"

Both of them put their gunblades on a nearby table for inspection. "Okay, lets see what we've got here." Instructor Tsugumi mumbled as she picked up Seifer's gunblade. "Hyperion class, black metal ID #45-BV7/C. Good balance, unloaded and clean as a fresh diaper. Congratulation Mr Almasy, I just might be able to make a gunblade specialists of you after all." She smirked. Seifer responded with a faint and stiff smile.

After putting down Seifer's gunblade, she flipped open Squall's suitcase and froze. Seconds ticked by, Squall growing a little restless. Was there a problem? The case wasn't empty, he'd felt the weight difference if it were. Instructor Tsugumi suddenly slammed the suitcase shut. "Mr Leonhart!" She snapped, not moving an inch. "Ma'am?" He replied. "Headmaster Cid supplied you with this weapon, correct?" She demanded of him. "Yes ma'am, he handed it over to me personally." Squall replied.

Instructor Tsugumi was for a long moment, lost in thought. It was as if she weighted one choice or decision against another. "Warm up gentlemen, we'll start as soon as I get back." She said rather calmly before stomping away. "Don't tell me he gave you a fake..." Seifer sighed.

The doors to headmaster Cid's office banged open as an outrage instructor Tsugumi made a loud and clear entrance. "Instructor, is there a problem?" Headmaster Cid asked innocently. "Damn straight there is a problem! How the heck did you get your hands on an authentic revolver gunblade!" She slammed her right palm flat on Cid's desk.

Headmaster Cid on the other hand, just leaned calmly back in his chair and took a moment to clear his throat. "Like I told you last night instructor, your only concern is..." Cid never got to finish. "Don't toy with me!" Tsugumi bursted out. "Esthar's borders were welded shut at the end of the war, some platoons never even managed to make a proper retreat so sudden did it happen." Tsugumi mumbled with a threatening voice.

Resting a few fingers on his forehead, headmaster Cid took a moment to weigh his words carefully. "Found it in a "Lost & Found" shop in Deling city." He said finally. "Bargain price too I bet?" Tsugumi shot back spitefully. "It was on sale." Headmaster Cid smiled. "Do you have the receipt?" She asked. Headmaster Cid remained silent.

Instructor Tsugumi gave up at that point. Letting her hand slide across his desk, she walked absent-minded around his office for a while. "I hoped I'd never ever see that thing again." She mumbled more or less to herself while looking at the back of her right hand. "I can't or won't try to imagine how difficult it must be for you, Ms Yuki." Headmaster Cid said.

She laughed a little laugh at his words. "He said you handed it to him personally, but you're just a middleman. Who really gave it to him?" She asked. Headmaster Cid hesitated for a moment before answering: "The boy's father." Tsugumi took a moment to digest Cid's reply. "A man's fate is a man's fate, and life is but an illusion." She grunted before leaving.

When instructor Tsugumi came back to the quad, she saw Seifer and Squall doing warm up exercises in the sunlight. "Fine work gentlemen, now lets see what you can do." She called out to them. Squall hid it well, but instructor Tsugumi could tell that he was curious of what had happened a few moments back. Stick to the job she told herself, don't get involved.

Instructor Tsugumi lined up two solid tables of massive wood. Then she planted a large red candle on both tables and lit them. "This is the deal. I want you to first strike out the candle with a vertical strike without cutting the table or the candle in half." She explained to them. "When we've done that, then what?" Seifer asked. In reply, she tossed him a lighter. "Re-lit it and start over." She said.

"Count how many strikes you have in total and how many times you manage to knock out the light. This is to keep track over your progress." Tsugumi instructed. "This is kindergarten stuff!" Seifer objected. Instructor Tsugumi raised one eyebrow at his objection. "I'm sorry, do you feel that you're past this stage, Mr Almasy?" She asked, putting on a dumb act on purpose. "Got that part right." Seifer snorted.

Instructor Tsugumi approached Seifer calmly. She stopped a few steps away from him and cast Protect spell on herself. Then she picked up a 5 feet long steel pipe that was used for the lightning on the quad stage. It wasn't something that would pass as a good weapon, let alone thick. "Okay Mr Almasy, I'll evaluate your skills." She smirked.

Seifer took the challenge with a straight face. Cracking his shoulders and neck loose, he got into his combat stance. "Say when." Instructor Tsugumi winked. Seifer charged, their weapons collided and they were locked in a standstill. "Strong, even for one without a junction set-up configured, however..." She panted before breaking free and disarming Seifer at the same time.

A few quick swipes with her steel pipe, and Seifer was brought to his knees in bitter defeat. "Beginners luck." Tsugumi said to Seifer. "2 out of 3, you game?" She asked him. Seifer kept his mouth shut, but picked up his gunblade and got ready for round two.

Although Seifer did try a slightly different approach this time, the result was the same. It all happened so quick, Squall never got the chance to see just what instructor Tsugumi did to break free from the weapon lock. "3 out of 5?" She asked Seifer.

Seifer got back on his feet, though instructor Tsugumi's swipes were beginning to take their toll on his arms and legs. "Stop treating me like a little boy." He panted. "Fair enough, I'll treat you like a real man this time." She agreed.

They started at it for the third time, but this was the most spectacular fight yet. Rather than wait for Seifer to make his move, instructor Tsugumi actually charged, shoving his gunblade out of the way with one end of her steel pipe and with the other end she slapped Seifer a few times across his face.

Staggering backwards, Seifer was loosing ground fast. Instructor Tsugumi held her staff horizontally and let it fall. Just as she let it go, she jumped up and kicked it forward, making it land flat on Seifer's chest. The pipe quivered from the impact before dropping to the ground.

Seifer was now staggering even more and had a good portion of the wind knocked out of him. While gasping for air, Seifer loosened the grip on his blade. Instructor Tsugumi saw another window of opportunity and grabbed out for the gunblade.

A quick elbow in the back of his head sent Seifer tumbling forward and he was now unarmed. Just as Seifer turned around, instructor Tsugumi leaped forward and for a fraction of a second it looked as if she planned to slit Seifer's throat with his own weapon. She did leap elegantly past him and she did slice his neck, but it was just skin deep, letting a few precious drops of blood make their clear statement; slash, you're dead.

Once Seifer had a moment to get a hold of himself, she asked the two of them an important question: "How did I beat you?" Squall thought over it for a moment, replaying every movement, every manoeuvre and every curve through his mind. "For starters, I'm not arrogant Mr Almasy. Even though I'm far more experienced and skilled than you, I still took my time to cast a Protect spell on myself before fighting." She said harshly.

Taking a seat, Seifer just glared into the floor. "Secondly, I've enough finesse and control to allow my weapon to become an extension of my body." Tsugumi carried on. Squall thought it over. Now that she mentioned it, Squall had to admit that it was hard to tell where the pipe began and the arm ended, so harmonized were her movements.

Instructor Tsugumi took a pause to let her words sink into the minds of her two students. "Now, lets get on with class. Sniff out those candles." She finally said calmly.

By the time the bell rang for lunch, Squall felt like his arms would drop out of their sockets at any given moment. That gunblade was heavier than it looked and the momentum energies didn't really make it any lighter. He even got homework for next class; to do 75 push-ups without fail.

After lunch, Squall had Status Magic class. It wasn't a mandatory subject, yet Squall felt it could prove vital in the field. "Yes Ms Elliot, you have a question?" The instructor said during the class. A female student rose from her seat. "I was wondering why an enemy won't wake up from a Sleep spell when hit physically, while it wakes up when attacked with magic." She said before seating herself.

The instructor lowered his head in thought before replying. "A good question Ms Elliot." He agreed. "A physical attack is recorded differently by the nerve system than a magical attack." He began, leaning on the instructor's desk at the front of the classroom while he spoke. "Then again, it is well known that if there's a fire in the room you sleep in, you'll wake up the moment the heat becomes too much, or the flames touches you directly." He carried on.

Squall had problems staying awake. The harsh training instructor Tsugumi had sent him through was wearing him down. It would take some time for his body to get used to such a rough training program. Until then, Squall just had to endure it the best he could.

"So, since magic is in essence various types of energy drawn from either creatures or objects, it differs from their ACTUAL counterparts. Real water differs from magical water, real fire differs from magical fire etc." The instructor was moving around in the classroom as he spoke. "It is this small difference that keeps the enemy asleep even if you put their hair on fire with magical attacks." He concluded, stopping at Squall's desk. Whatever, Squall thought.

His whole body screamed and yearned for a moment's rest, but Squall gritted his teeth together and pressed on, much to the objection of his bones and muscles. Coming out in the hallway at the 2nd floor, he wasn't walking very straight, since to him the world was spinning around in a shady double vision.

Quistis was discussing her latest written test with instructor Xu when Squall's staggering about caught her eye. She noticed how other students also took note of Squall's condition, but neither said or did anything. You harvest what you sow, she thought.

Xu, who was known for her sharp eyes, didn't take long to notice Quistis' drifting eyes. Being a good friend of Quistis, she gently nudged her and said: "Go on, I'm sure that deep down he'll appreciate it, even if he's too nervous to admit it to your face." Quistis' head swung around and she was confused.

"Xu!" She said a little louder than she'd intended. "I don't know what you're talking about." Quistis said with a lower voice. "Oh come on, sweetie darling. It's so obvious that it's actually painful to watch." Xu smiled before leaving. Quistis watched her leave and she too, like all the others, made no effort in helping Squall.

Squall was making a forced attempt in keeping his eyes open when Quistis slowly approached him. "Squall, are you alright?" She asked carefully. No, I feel like a pile of walking Chocobo droppings, thanks for asking, Squall thought mentally, a little irritated that Quistis always seemed to asking stupid and painfully obvious questions. "...I've a class to attend." He managed to get out.

Rising from the wall, Squall walked in a swaying fashion towards the elevator. Quistis hesitated for a moment, but finally made up her mind. She walked up to Squall and linked her arm with his, offering him stability. In response to this kind gesture, Squall stopped walking. "What is it?" Quistis asked him.

Holding on to the hand rail on the bridge that lead to the elevator, Squall yanked his arm free from Quistis'. "Squall, stop being such a baby. You can barely walk straight." Quistis objected. "Don't..." Squall began, his head swaying a little back and forth. "You'll have to speak up Squall, I can't hear you." Quistis said.

Following her advice, Squall took a moment to gather his composure. His eyes locked on hers, Squall took a deep breath and gave her his reply: "Don't you ever touch me!" His words rang between the two of them and an icy silence followed. Quistis' face locked in utter amazement. This was the last thing she'd expect.

"Squall..." She began, but he would have none of it. Still holding on to the hand rail, Squall managed to get himself to the elevator on his own. "...please be careful." Quistis said as the elevator doors closed.

Arriving at the 1st floor, Squall was as ready as he could be for his next class; Practical Elemental Magic Defence class in the training area. It was going to be tougher than usual, but he'd get by somehow. Hopefully he wouldn't be sent to the infirmary by the instructor in charge. That would be the day, now wouldn't it?

"Attending class as usual Mr Leonhart?" Xu asked from one of the benches in the main hall. "I see no reason to skip class." Squall replied with a hoarse voice. "Oh of course not. That is if you look away from the staggering walk, the double vision, the dizziness, the splitting headache and objecting muscles." Xu agreed eagerly with a all too clear tone of sarcasm in her voice.

Although he hated it, Squall had to admit that Xu had a point. "Mr Leonhart, you can barely stand." Xu said seriously. "My opponents in the field will not sit around and wait for my recovery in some infirmary. They'll kick me whether I'm standing, staggering or lying face down." Squall replied, though he didn't look at instructor Xu.

Instructor Xu nodded her agreement. "The healthy student learns everything, the weakened learns half and the dead learns nothing." She said, as if the two were involved in a verbal dual. "If I can't handle myself under safe circumstances, I certainly won't be able to handle myself under dangerous circumstances." Squall shot back, though he suspected that he was loosing ground fast.

Again instructor Xu agreed to his arguments by nodding, and yet again she came up with a counter argument: "Here as well as out in the field you have comrades that will stand by your side and aid you to the best of their abilities. Trust them as they trust you." There it was, the core problem. Squall's inability to trust others brought out the finest in him, yet it also made him weak and defenceless.

Since instructor Xu had hit the nail on the head, Squall couldn't come up with another argument. Still, he was well aware that if he remained silent now, Xu would realize this too, so he needed to come up with something. Squall didn't want to seen as a weakened shell of a human, barely able to carry the weight of his own sword.

Closing his eyes to calm his confused mind, Squall realized that instructor Xu still remained quiet. She wasn't dense enough to not realize she'd hit the nail on the head, not in a million years. "I'll go over the material of today's lesson with you after curfew on the condition that you get your dead tired butt to the infirmary or your dorm to get some rest." She said.

Thinking it over to the best of his rather reduced ability, Squall agreed with himself that it was an acceptable compromise even by his standards. Nodding weakly, Squall turned to walk over to the infirmary. Rising from the bench, Xu looked around the main hall. "Ms Trepe!" She shouted, making Squall jump a little. He was in no condition for sudden loud shouts.

Looking around to see who had called her name, Quistis soon spotted instructor Xu and headed over to her. "Mr Leonhart is a bit under the weather here, take him to the infirmary for me?" Xu asked her.

Quistis tired to read instructor Xu's face to determine her true intentions, but could not reach any satisfying conclusion. "Of course instructor." She finally agreed, taking one of Squall's arms over her shoulders. Even though he was in front of an instructor whom had just given him a lecture about comrades and trust, Squall still refused to accept Quistis' support.

With some effort, Squall wiggled his wrist free from Quistis' hand and let his arm slide off her shoulders and down her back. "Squall..." Quistis began, watching Squall drag his tired frame across the floor. "Mr Leonhart." Xu snapped. Squall didn't even stop walking, for he knew that if he stopped now, he'd need Quistis' help for sure.

"Swallow your pride." Xu said from behind. When there was no immediate response from Squall, she added: "It's an order." Squall's military training should have kicked in at that point, but instead there was a full system reboot. With the floor horizontally spinning around and a skull cracking headache, Squall Leonhart submitted to the prays of his body and fainted on the spot.


	3. Loving The Lion

**Loving The Lion**

"Doctor!" The door to the infirmary slid open with a dull steam-like hiss. Quistis Trepe came in with Squall Leonhart's left arm over her shoulder. He looked like a life size doll who's strings had been cut. "He collapsed in the main hall." Quistis panted slightly.

Dr Kadowaki had been with Garden since the very beginning and had known both Quistis and Squall since they were about 6 years old. Although she hadn't been enough in their lives to qualify as a mother figure, she passed for a lovingly aunt at the very least. "Take him to the bed." She instructed.

Laying him gently down on the bed, Quistis stepped into the background to give Dr Kadowaki some space for her examination. Scan spell worked wonders as far as finding strengths and weakness' in a given subject goes, but as far as medical diagnostics went, it just didn't cut it.

Strapping a white glove-like clothing of elastic plastic on her right hand, Dr Kadowaki pressed a few buttons and put her palm on Squall's forehead. The mind kept a constant track of the body's condition. It was far more accurate than any other medical equipment known to man when you needed to determine a persons condition.

On the down side, if the mind was either confused or somehow disabled, readings could be difficult to interpret if not impossible. Then it was straight back to "old school" with blood samples and various other traditional scans and tests. Balamb Garden's infirmary didn't have that kind of equipment, only a fully fledge hospital did.

Minutes ticked by, Quistis didn't make any effort in hiding her worries. It was like watching a close relative, someone very precious to her being in pain. Although it wasn't very likely that Squall was in any pain, it was still painful to watch.

"It's quite alright Quistis, he's just pushed himself too far. A good rest will be all the medicine he'll need." Dr Kadowaki assured her, placing a comforting smile on her face. Sighing with relief, Quistis casted a glance down on the sleeping Squall. He used to be cute when he was sleeping, but now he was drop dead handsome.

Looking at the watch that hung on the wall, Quistis noticed she was already running late for her class. "Oh dear, I better get going. Please take good care of him doctor." She said before leaving. "Well, well. Aren't you a lucky young man, huh?" Dr Kadowaki said to the sleeping Squall after Quistis had left the infirmary.

Squall's body might be in desperate need of rest, but his mind was racing off, digesting information and impressions he'd been given the past few days. He'd finally arrived at one of the most crucial milestones in his life and it made him feel great.

From here it was a straight path, he was like an arrow on a strain bow, ready for release. Squall'd be released from his bow the moment he graduated from SeeD. So why was the path ahead so confusing?

Looking around in his mental self, Squall found himself in a room with stairs and doors leading in all possible and some impossible directions. It didn't make much sense and it was all very surreal. "Straight as an arrow? You're a broken arrow, Squall, broken." A voice chuckled from somewhere.

This was just a dream Squall thought. Fever fantasies, no need to read any deeper meaning in them. "Wrong again." The voice laughed, this time from another location. The owner of the voice didn't seem to have any problems navigating the complex room and its many doors and stairs.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Squall demanded. "Don't recall ever being given a name, but I do have some desires." The voice replied in a self-reflecting manner. "What is your desire then?" Squall asked, figuring that things said and done in this dream didn't have much meaning in the real world so he might as well play along.

Silence, though only in the form of verbal silence. It was clear that there was something out there. It was large, it had wings, a tail and was moving rapidly and at complete random through the room, however it was always out of sight.

"My desires are the same as yours, your true desires that is." The voice replied, moving around as it spoke. "You want to unite with someone you've lost too?" Squall asked rather doubtfully. "Not in the slightest!" The voice actually laughed.

Squall took a moment to consider the reply. What other desires did Squall have? They were all second to none when they were compared to his desire to be with sis once more. Everything else were simply means to reach that one precious end.

"You really don't know yourself, do you Squall? No wonder you fail understanding others. Then again, can't really say that I've ever had the pleasure of seeing you try." The voice commented. So why don't you tell me, rather than play stupid games, Squall thought. "Straight to the heart of things, you'll never change." The voice replied. This thing could read minds?

"This IS your mind Squall, and as you can see it's quite a mess right now." As the voice changed location from one place to another, Squall tried his best to track it down with his eyes, but with no luck. "I know what I want and how to get it." Squall replied. "There is no confusion." He denied.

"That isn't where the confusion is, Squall." The voice replied, slightly disappointed in Squall's lack on insight. "Where is it then, Mr-know-it-all-voice-in-my-head?" Squall asked, getting pretty fed up with this game. "I would put my money on that you're uncertain why "sis" left you in the first place, and if, however unlikely you manage to be reunited with her, she will accept you?" The voice said with a great deal of confidence.

With that uncertainty followed the confusion illustrated with the surreal room. The path wasn't as straight an clear as Squall'd first thought. "She didn't leave me of her of free will." Squall replied. "According to who?" The voice asked, mildly amused. When given the question, Squall failed to come up with an answer.

Someone had told him way back that sis was taken, but who was that someone? No face or name came to mind. "Perhaps that's just something you've been telling yourself all these years, so that you can feed yourself with the lie that sis will accept you upon your reunion." The voice suggested. "Why would she reject someone that she was taken away from by force, against her own little and pure will?" The voice wondered.

"Sis didn't leave me!" Squall shouted out. "You two were siblings, orphans, why?" The voice asked. "She... told me..." Squall began, looking down at the floor. "Told you what?" The voice asked. "...that ...mother died when I was very young." Squall admitted, the memories of the gloomy moment he and sis shared way back then wrapping painfully around his heart.

Squall could feel someone's presence next to him, but saw no one. "Did she tell you WHY mummy died?" The voice asked gently. "She said... that... mother... was sick... before... during and..." Squall broke off, his voice swallowed up by the urge to cry.

"After... your birth..." The voice supplied and Squall could do nothing but agree. Her condition had worsened after the birth, so in the end her weakened body could take no more and simply stopped. That's what he'd been told. Squall only remembered it because it was one of the few times he'd seen sis' cheerful face sad and in tears.

"Do you remember how your mother looked like?" It then asked, casually with a faint hint of curiosity. "No... but sis always said she was beautiful." Squall replied, choked up with emotions. This was his mind after all, no one was peeking or listening, so what the hell, right? "That's it? Sis boiled down your mother's appearance down to one lousy word?" The voice demanded with clear indications of disbelief.

Squall shook his head, crouching down in a kneeling position. Drawing abstract figures with his index finger on the floor between his fingers he finally spoke up. "Sis said that I had her eyes and hair. Whenever she wanted to see mother, all she had to to was to look at me." The voice sighed. "It's painful to loose your mother, isn't it?" It said.

Again, Squall agreed with the voice with all his heart. "The only thing more painful is to be reminded over that loss every single day for the rest of your life, removing any chance you have for moving on with you life." The voice declared. Squall's tears dripped from his cheeks and down on the floor. "So it's clear to you now, why she left you?" The voice asked.

The voice knew Squall even better than he knew himself. He saw the truth behind the lies and told it to anyone willing and brave enough to hear it. "She left me because she couldn't stand seeing me." Squall said. Although he couldn't see anyone, Squall could practically hear the voice nodding its agreement.

"You have your mother's eyes and hair, YOU, the very reason why your mother is DEAD." The voice accused Squall. "It's like watching your parent's killer getting away with murder AND inherit his or her wealth, leaving you outside in the bitter cold world." The voice carried on, its tone getting harsher by the minute.

Like whip lashes the words struck through the very core in Squall's soul. "Only your way of getting away with murder wasn't like luring the judge and jury into believing that you were innocent, oh no." The voice seemed determined to bring Squall down as far as it could with its accusations.

"And the wealth you inherited were far worse than any material fortune, yes sir indeed." Squall wanted it to stop, yet it felt good to have his eyes opened like this, in a weird sense. After all, he wasn't all that interested in basing his life on a self-made lie that made him feel good about himself. "You took away your sisters most precious person away, so that you could live an MOCK her with your mother's looks! It's a miracle she endured you for as long as she did!" The deathblow hit Squall harder than he'd ever imagined.

Crouching down in an emotional breakdown, Squall cried silent tears, a clenched fist weakly knocked at the floor. "Who are you...?" Squall asked with a sobbing weak whisper. There was no reply, but he could feel the voice's presence stronger than ever.

Looking up, Squall saw a great and majestic silhouette of a winged creature. Velvet white feathers rained down from its graceful wings, like gentle flakes of snow they rained down on Squall. A furry mantle covered the creatures neck, a long tail swayed around from its back, five impressive horns shot out from its forehead and knife like bones cut out from its arms.

The light behind the creature faded, allowing Squall to make out the colours and finer details of the silhouette. The horns were red along with its claws and the outer half of the knife like bones that stuck out from its arms. Its fur was dark purple in colour, while its mantle and wings were pale grey with hints of white in them. Across its chest it had a large white cross engraved.

Their eyes met and the strange creature that for the most part looked like a lion, gave a cunning looking smirk before flapping its wings violently and out of view. Watching the lion creature soaring out of view, Squall got to his feet and tried to reach out for it. As if answering his own question Squall said to himself: "The bringer of my grief... Griever."

Squall's eyes opened to see a gently illuminated room. It was dark outside, so he could clearly see his reflection in the window glass. Squall knew of only one room that had a window next to the bed like that; he was in the infirmary.

Memories of the past few hours before the blackout came creeping back to Squall as he lied still. He'd pushed himself too hard and collapsed as a result of it. Squall made a mental note to pay more attention to the signals the body was sending him in the future. Bottom line was that he was a human being like everyone else, and just like everyone else he had limitations.

Half rising in the bed, Squall looked around and found Dr Kadowaki sitting behind her desk working on her computer. "Good morning sleepyhead." She said, not taking her eyes of the screen. "Instructor Xu dropped by during supper, she said something about extra class after curfew, if you were up to it." She said after a moment.

Dr Kadowaki was used to run a one sided dialogue with Squall, so she made little effort in trying to force him into a given subject. Squall sat up in bed, burring his face in his hands, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he did. What a strange dream, he thought to himself.

It was so lifelike and he remembered everything down to the tiniest detail. The dream had struck hard on several emotional and deeply personal "strings", so sharing it with anyone was totally out of the question. Squall would have to digest and analyse it later. In the mean time, he better get over to the training area.

Squall might have been a bit shaken emotionally speaking, but he felt rested physically, so he was all game for some late night training. Despite some rather low spirits, Squall headed over to the training area, figuring that a little workout would clear out his head and help him disconnect for a while.

At the entry hall to the training area, instructor Xu waited along with Quistis. Living a very active social life, Squall concluded that instructor Xu found it difficult to be without company for longer periods of time. "Reporting for training." Squall saluted instructor Xu.

Instructor Xu looked him up and down for a moment before she asked him: "Are you sure you can follow through on this Mr Leonhart? I'm not too keen on seeing you collapse on me twice on the same day." She told him. "I'll let you know if it becomes too much for me instructor." Squall assured her.

Quistis gave Squall a look. She was probably wondering why he'd changed his attitude so suddenly, he thought to himself. Well, whatever. She could speculate all night long if it made her happy. "Shall we begin?" Squall asked instructor Xu and even put on a faint smile.

"Excuse me." Quistis said as she made a rather hasty departure from the scene. "Silly girl, jumping to conclusions far too soon for her own good." Instructor Xu sighed to herself before turning her attention to Squall. "Very well, you may use the GF and magic supplied over there." She said, pointing at a couple of active Draw Points and a Spirit Orb.

A Spirit Orb was a small sphere shaped object at the size of a tennis ball which was used to store Guardian Forces when they weren't junctioned to a student, instructor or SeeD. It was a brilliant and simple way of storing spiritual entities developed by Dr Odine.

GF's preferred to rest within living beings, whether it be plants, reptiles, insects mammals or in some extreme cases; basic bacteria. Despite this preference, it wasn't unheard of that GF's went in a dormant state by merging with a lifeless object. These objects were given great abilities, which again could be past on to whomever was the current owner.

After some time, which still baffled scientist who tired to find out how this time was determined, the GF left the object in question and went elsewhere. There were records indicating that the owner of the object they'd merged with had been overusing (alternatively abusing) its powers, thus awakening the GF (or in the worst case scenario; making it angry).

Dr Odine concluded, after a series of experiments, that if a GF was granted rest in a dormant state, then offered a living being to junction with, it would remain pleased and not really minding how or what their powers where used for.

The same research uncovered that the GF's were territorial and could quickly get unhappy about the situation if it shared its living space with several other GF's. Draw Points on the other hand weren't a physical object, they were more like a small concentrated field of energy containing magic in one form or another.

All Draw Points could just contain one type of magic, although there had been numerous attempts to make an artificial version of this natural phenomenon. These artificial Draw Points should in theory be able to contain multiple types of magic, but despite that it was dynamite on paper, the practical version of the theory had yet to work.

The main issue was of course how to keep the various types of magic in their raw energy state, from mixing with one another. They had the container, they just needed to install some fancy (and working) partitions within it. The stronger the magic or the larger amount contained within, the bigger chance you had in making it blow up, quite literary.

So for the time being, users of Para-magic would have to rely on already discovered "natural sources" of Draw Points to restock their magic supply, unless they wanted to draw it from an enemy or convert specific items of course. Thankfully these "sources" never drifted away nor did they move around. Once spotted, you could be 99 certain that it would stay there forever and ever.

Scientists claimed that Draw Points would keep on being discovered, especially as more GF's were uncovered and that these could be used as "bloodhounds" to "sniff out" new Draw Points, ready for use.

Squall wasn't quite sure how Garden got their hands on all this information, since history records showed that up until the Sorceress War, Esthar had a pretty well established monopoly on magical goods, weapons, knowledge and how to use that knowledge for military and civil purposes.

Granted, there had been some trading with Galbadia, the great train bridge linking Galbadia, Fisherman's Horizon and Esthar together was proof of that, but Esthar never told anyone the full story. Squall had experienced this on a first hand basis, since there were gaps in his training program, gaps which were filled in with some improvized solutions. It had to be done simply because people didn't know how to become a full fledged gunblade specialist.

Instructor Tsugumi was about as close as one could get. She'd been in the Estharian army, visited the Estharian Royal Guard boot camp and confronted them head on not too long after she deserted. It had cost her right arm, but that was just the physical price. Hyne knew what the mental price was for surviving such a battle.

Although curious, Squall wouldn't dream of prying around instructor Tsugumi to lure some bits of information out of her. If she wanted to tell him he'd be more than happy to hear her out, assuming she stuck to whatever that was relevant and didn't start drifting off.

Figuring that he'd let his mind drift around long enough, Squall picked up the Spirit Orb and concentrated. It was something he'd been doing for many years now; "peeking" into a Spirit Orb just like this one for any spiritual entity that might rest within, identify it, open his mind and lastly inviting it in.

Sounded easy right? Well it wasn't, since the whole process was by default unnatural for humans. The GF's themselves usually were the one that called the shots, that picked whatever living being they saw fit for their needs. For the GF, it was as natural as walking from one room to another.

However, with so many other things, given enough time and practice it became second nature, an act of reflex, like walking. Doing it in the training area was one thing, doing it during the heat of battle was another. Squall hadn't seen any real action yet, and he sure hadn't been given the chance to juggle around with his junction set-up while in combat yet.

The GF that rested inside the Spirit Orb was a familiar "face" called Ifrit. It was a heated debate whether GF's had genders or not. They certainly took various forms whenever summoned, some with straight human male or female traits, others took shapes as animals, while the third group settled for a form usually of their own design.

Ifrit was very popular amongst newcomers, especially boys. This was all because Ifrit always took the form of a mighty horned lion like creature, making a loud entry engulfed in flames before unleashing its devastating fire based attack.

Squall would be one of the first to admit that Ifrit's form was an impressive creature of strength and raw rage. With that said, it was about as far as it went for Squall. He had his own "lion" now, and in comparison, Ifrit came more than short to Griever.

Feeling Ifrit sliding from the Spirit Orb and into his mind, a heat wave-like sensation ran down Squall's back. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make that small difference. "You two are late." Instructor Xu said with a unpleasant grunt. Turning around to see who'd just arrived, Squall was taken slightly by surprise.

Fujin along with Raijin had just entered, both wearing their SeeD candidate uniforms. It seemed to Squall that Fujin had some issues with the skirt, since she kept on checking it. Passing a glance over at instructor Xu, Squall's face asked her: "Why are they here?"

Instructor Xu decided to ignore Squall's questioning face and walked up to the two fresh candidates. "I would like to stress out once again that it's important to pay attention during class." She told the two of them. In synchronized response, Fujin and Raijin nodded their heads and taking sudden interest in the tip of their shoes.

"Are you all set Mr Leonhart?" Instructor Xu asked him. "In a minute, instructor." Squall replied, still a little set back by the additions to the lesson. Turning back to draw the spells available, Squall stopped. He needed to give Ifrit instructions on which of his powers he'd like to use.

Naturally, Squall could use his physical attacks, but that limited his combat potential severely, even if he boosted up his performance by junctioning. Closing his eyes, Squall's attention drifted inwards, to the corner of his mind where Ifrit had made himself comfortable.

He'd been taught that it was easier to visualize the scene in his mind rather than just "thinking" in the direction of the GF. Some students overdid this visualization by thinking of grand castles, vast sceneries with tons of details. The rule of the thumb was that you wouldn't be able to pass instructions on to the GF until the scenery was fully established in your mind.

Naturally it's hard to keep your wits collected when participating in a fight unless you're hardy by it. So it's not the best time to start picturing a complex scenery when grenades are raining down from the clouds. Squall's image of Ifrit's "residence" was basic and easy to remember; a floor, Ifrit's pool of lava in the centre with Ifrit hovering above it, a single light from above and nothing else.

Black, dull and incredibly gloomy with an almost overwhelming silence to boot, it wasn't some place you'd visit all too often. Still, Squall felt quite confident that his version would work for several reasons.

For one it was easy to remember, details where scarce and the silence helped him "zone out" from the heat of the battle, assuming that he were in one that is. It was based on the GF's own summoning entry and its natural habitat. Speaking of natural habitats, GF's were known to drift around, but in the end they always stuck to some sort of pattern.

Quezacotl was known to run (actually fly would be a better term) after any given thunderstorm, while Ifrit on the other hand kept close to volcano's, forest fires and the like. However, Ifrit wasn't that much of a drifter, since the Fire Carven at the east side of Balamb island had enough volcanic activity to keep anyone happy.

Squall wasn't allowed to summon GF's yet, though he had seen recordings and demonstrations of GF summoned in battle. For now Squall had to settle down with casting magic, drawing magic from enemies or Draw Points, stocking magic drawn from enemies or Draw Points and item usage.

Since a large portion of the items found in the aftermath of battle had magical properties, it was crucial to have a GF to consult with in order to make the most out of the items in question. After a few moments Squall was ready. He had Attack, Draw, Magic and item as his abilities.

Turning his attention over to the Draw Points, Squall looked at each one carefully. Although physical contact with the Draw Point wasn't required since the whole draw process took place on a mental level, Squall always put his hand inside the pink glowing energy field. Old habits dies hard, he thought to himself.

Fire, Cure, Blizzard and Scan spells were at his disposal and Squall took up as much as he could from each spell. Again he turned his attention inwards and at Ifrit, instructing the GF where to put the spells. "I'm ready instructor." He said finally, turning to face Xu.

"Let me double-check." Instructor Xu said and cast a Scan spell on Squall. Scan spell didn't do anything to the one who got the spell casted upon him/herself, but it did provide the caster with life-saving data. "Looks good." Instructor Xu said approvingly before turning to Fujin and Raijin. "Note that Mr Leonhart has Blizzard junctioned to his Elementary Defence and watch the effects when he battles this Bite Bug." She told them.

A small cage door opened and a blue insect like creature came buzzing out. Bite Bugs were common on Balamb island and Squall had fought them many times. They were captured only at the beginning of the school year since most students quickly grew skilled enough to handle stronger enemies.

Squall hadn't brought his gunblade with him, since this was a strictly magic lesson only. As a safety-net he had instructor Xu on standby with high level spells at her immediate disposal. Although it was a reassuring thought, Squall still hated the idea of depending on others.

This shouldn't prove too hard, he thought to himself when the Bite Bug suddenly charged and sent a hissing fire ball towards Squall. Shielding with his arms, the fire ball hit Squall harder than he'd thought. Being knocked off his feet, Squall quickly scrambled back on his feet and was ready to counter attack when the Bite Bug suddenly froze.

Time magic? Squall knew that instructor Xu was good, but did she really have clearance for time based magic? "These are basic fire balls Mr Leonhart. Not fira or firaga, so why where you knocked off your feet?" She asked him. Squall remained silent. He knew the answer, but was in no mood for chatting about it. Defeat always made his mood go sour.

Instructor Xu on the other hand refused to let him off the hook. "Well?" She demanded. "Because of the Blizzard spells." Squall mumbled, dusting off his uniform. "Yes, Fire VS Blizzard means that whomever is on the defence looses. Now reconfigure so that your Fire spells are on the defence and we'll try it again." Instructor Xu said.

Fujin and Raijin were listening seriously and took notes the best they could. Squall did what he was told and in the nick of time too. The time spell lost its effect and the Bite Bug charged once more. This time around it didn't bother with Fire spells, it dived forward and bit Squall in the shoulder.

Sinking down on his knees, Squall's vision went blurry at best. He'd been poisoned, the more he moved around, the more the poison would spread and thus adding more damage. Instructor Xu wasn't late in reacting. From the back of her belt she drew her two cat claw like weapons, darted towards the Bite Bug and with two quick slashes killed it.

Squall clenched his fists until they started trembling with tension. He hated when this happened, when he was denied to fight back on his own. "Drink this." Instructor Xu told him as she handed him a Remedy potion. Squall's hearing was failing as well due to the poison, but he understood what she meant and took the bottle.

Remedy potions tasted awful, at least in Squall's opinion. Still, its efficiency remained unquestioned. At least Antidotes were relatively tasteless, but when you were a SeeD of instructor Xu's calibre you didn't bother with Antidote potions.

Squall's health was recovering and after a quick Cure spell the bite wound on his shoulder was healed too, leaving no scar whatsoever. "That concludes this lesson." Instructor Xu told Fujin and Raijin, who gave her a polite bow before leaving. Why did she stop the lesson, Squall wondered.

"I know what you're thinking Mr Leonhart, and I would have carried on the lesson if you were in better condition. However, you've pushed yourself too far earlier and as an instructor the safety of the students comes first." She told him. Glaring at her, Squall wasn't happy with her decision, despite that to a certain degree he saw her reasoning.

"Hand in your GF and reset your junction before returning to the dormitory." Instructor Xu said before handing Squall the Spirit Orb. Reluctantly Squall did what he was told, though it was clear as day that he didn't like it one bit.

Sulking, Squall walked back to the dormitory. Despite that he'd rested in the infirmary earlier Squall was quite tired. He wasn't tired in a physical sense, it was just that his mind felt heavy, as if he was having a fever. "Excuse me." Fujin waited for him outside the entrance of the boys dorm.

Although one couldn't tell with the naked eye, Squall groaned loudly inwards. What did she want at a time like this? "I was just wondering what... what would have happened if that... uhm... monster had fired a fire spell on you." She asked him timidly. A moving figure caught Squall's eye before he could reply and when he turned he saw it was Seifer coming out from the boys dorm.

"The secret area is inside in the training area, Squall. Take your date there if you must see her after curfew." Seifer smiled at him. Squall didn't bother to come up with a reply, for once he just led it slide. "No, it's not like that at all!" Fujin objected. For crying out loud, can't you tell when someone's just pulling your leg, Squall mused to himself.

Seifer caught a glance at Fujin's notebook and suddenly grew very interested. "Studying late?" He asked her, pointing at the notebook. "Eh? Oh this. Yes, me and Raijin had to take extra lessons after curfew." She admitted shyly. Seifer just nodded at her reply. "Who's your instructor?" He then asked. "Instructor Xu." Fujin said. "Queen of Bitches." Seifer snorted.

Fujin was uncertain of what to say next, while Squall tried to calmly leave the scene. "You're 365 days too young to sneak away from me, Squall." Seifer called after him, making Squall halt in his departure. "Why don't you go and fetch your gunblade and we'll see who's best in class?" He asked Squall, whom in return remained mute.

"You two are the gunblade specialists, aren't you?" Fujin asked them, clearly impressed. Of course Seifer is a gunblade specialist, you saw him take down a T-Rexaur on his own on your first day here, remember? Squall grumbled mentally. What did you think that weapon was anyway? A bladed cannon?

"That's right, so how about it Squall?" Seifer asked again. "...not in the mood." Squall replied in a mumbling voice. "Ignoring a challenge? Hold the press, we've got ourselves the headline of the decade right here." Seifer spat out sarcastic comments. It was hard to do, but Squall just walked away from Seifer and Fujin. Another time, he thought to himself.

"Uhm... do you think you could review my notes?" Fujin carefully asked Seifer. "Huh? Well, yeah I might as well do that." Seifer said, clearly a little disappointed over Squall's lack of interest in late night training.

The next day consisted of nothing but Guardian Force training. Although it was nothing physical involved, students were nevertheless totally beat by the end of the day. Practice makes masters was the philosophy that such classes lived by, down to the last letter unfortunately.

Squall was a good chunk of steps ahead of his classmates when it came to mastering GF interaction. Several times had he been offered to assist the instructor with the class, but each time Squall had declined (sometimes less polite than others), much to the instructors disappointment.

While the rest of the class was fumbling around with Status magic for defence and attack, Squall was given an extra assignment. He'd been given an Aura stone and was told that there was a way to extract the energy within the stone so that it would become a spell. If he could get the GF to convert the stone into a spell by the end of the class, he'd be given a little more freedom for next weeks class.

Magic refining wasn't something every GF could do, more over not every GF was good enough at refining items into spells. In most cases if you had 100 items, you ended up with 80 spells or something like that.

Looking at the yellow glowing Aura stone in his hand, Squall turned his attention back to his textbook one more time. It was hard, yet at the same time great fun. Squall liked challenges, especially if he could tackle them on his own.

A little frustrated over his lack of progress, Squall decided to head down to the library to get another textbook. Maybe the Quezacotl textbook held some answers. "I'll be in the library." He told the instructor as he headed for the door. "Very well Mr Leonhart, but be back before class ends. I've some messages I want to give the class." The instructor replied, standing next to some student's desk.

During the elevator trip down to the 1st floor, Squall's mind worked overtime trying to crack the task he'd been given. Quezacotl wasn't helping much either, since it was rather grumpy for some strange reason. _"What's the trouble?"_ Squall asked mentally, seeking the image of the green bird-like GF in his mind. _"It's the stench."_ Quezacotl replied, sniffing in a snobby manner. _"I don't smell anything."_ Squall said. _"Ifrit was here recently."_ Quezacotl grunted.

At that point the elevator arrived at the 1st floor and Squall gave up. There was no use trying to reason with a GF who was jealous. If he could find the solution, Squall hoped that was enough, despite that he wouldn't be able to have the Aura spell in his hands thanks to Quezacotl's jealousy.

Seifer and Quistis were in the same class, which had a practical class near the training area. It was a big class, so they were probably divided in half. Apparently Quistis and Seifer's half were left outside the training area while the other half was having all the "fun" as Seifer would put it.

"Will you stop being such a worry-brat?" Seifer called out rather loudly in what seemed to be a rather heated argument. "I beg your pardon!" Quistis shouted back. "We don't need to stock up Sleep spells." Seifer said, as if that was final. "Yes we do Seifer. I'm not very much in the mood for being bitten in half by a T-Rexaur. Safety first." Quistis stood her ground.

Squall did find the loud debate rather amusing, but showed no signs of smile or laughter. "Drawing and stocking takes time, it's boring and not to mention tedious!" Seifer was loosing his temper, again. "Don't come crying to me if you get into more than you can handle." Quistis snorted.

Arriving at the library, Squall looked around for a member of the library committee. True that he could probably find the book he was looking for by himself, but since he was under time pressure, Squall concluded that it would be more efficient to ask rather than look on his own.

"Yo! Squall!" Zell shouted, which of course resulted in many "SSHHH!" from the other students reading and studying calmly in the library. Great, what is he doing here? Squall wondered. "Our instructor got called out on a mission around midnight, so we're having a self-study day today." Zell smiled, clearly not gotten over the idea that he was finally a Garden student.

Maybe he just took the day off to get a rest from your loud personality, Squall thought to himself but as usual he said nothing. "Whattcha got there?" Zell asked, poking Squall's textbook. "Studies." Squall grumbled.

A SeeD walked up to the two young students and flashed them a big shiny smile. "What can I do for you?" He asked them. Someone's having a good day, Squall noted mentally. "I'd like to borrow the Quezacotl textbook, please." Squall mumbled. This was after all a library, so there was no need to speak loudly.

The SeeD gave it some thought before he replied: "I'm sorry, but I think that book's already checked out." Squall remained silent. Darn it, who'd need that book now? The new students wouldn't be using GF's in practical classes until next year and all the basic theory regarding GF's were stored in the 2nd floor study hall.

While Squall pondered it over, the SeeD headed behind the library counter to double-check his suspicion. "Seifer Almasy checked it out yesterday, just before curfew." He confirmed. Why would Seifer borrow that book? He hated reading more than anyone. "Apparently Mr Almasy has the Para-magic battle test coming up next week." The SeeD added while he looked down on the computer screen.

That didn't make much sense. Ifrit was usually the GF they used for that test. The Fire Carven was a hostile environment, filled with fire based monsters and with Ifrit as the local king. If Seifer was going to fight Ifrit, why would he bother with the Quezacotl textbook?

Squall was baffled. "So they're not going to fight this... oh what's its name? The fire spirit thingy..." Zell asked the SeeD behind the counter. "You mean the fire GF?" He asked Zell, whom again responded with a nod.

"Normally, yes they would have gone into the Fire Cavern for the Para-magic battle test, but it's been a little too unstable lately. The headmaster didn't want to postpone the test, so they changed the GF to Quezacotl." The SeeD explained patiently to Zell. Squall could see the pieces fall into place, Zell on the other hand looked like a man-sized question mark.

It was not uncommon to have massive thunderstorms around Balamb island at this time of the year. Garden would probably rent a barge and take off to the north side of the island, wait for a thunderstorm to come their way and then initiate the test.

Battle an elemental GF in its natural habitat might not sound all that intimidating, if you knew your Para-magic however you'd realize that it was quite a challenge for someone who'd never seen real combat before.

The Para-magic battle test was probably one of the first large scale battles a SeeD candidate had to face. It was reserved for students that were 15 years or older, since at that age you'd be ready for the Field Exam which involved the real deal. Seifer was just 14, but he stood in a league of his own. With this in mind, it was no wonder why Garden was eager to pursuit Seifer's talents to the fullest.

If they could bring him to his peek and keep him there for as long as possible, he'd in return be able to complete missions flawlessly and thus bring money to Garden. Bottom line was, even at Balamb Garden it was all about the money. Only the naïve believed in whatever the official ideals of Balamb Garden claimed. They were nothing less than propaganda, plain and simple.

Squall had to seen himself beaten. What would he do now? Quezacotl wasn't in the mood to give him a few pointers, the textbook was checked out to someone else (who just happens to be a total ass and busy with his own class) and Squall was out of ideas of how to extract the Aura spell out from the Aura stone.

Zell nudged him out of his thoughts with his elbow. "What's with the gloomy look? I'll help you out if you'd like." He told Squall cheerfully. Squall on the other hand looked very sceptical at Zell. "What?" Zell asked, backing off a little. "Two minds think better than one you know." He said, sounding a little defensive.

Although Squall did see Zell's reasoning, he didn't like the idea of joining heads with anyone, especially on this assignment and with Zell – the newcomer. He was certain that Zell had his good pointers like most people did, it was just that whatever those pointers were, Squall didn't feel any strong urges to use them.

Shaking his head, Squall left the library in deep thoughts. "Was it something I said?" Zell wondered. "Don't let it get to you, he does that all the time to everyone." The SeeD behind the library counter chuckled. "Say, do you have any comic books around here?" Zell asked the SeeD.

On his way back to the 2nd floor study hall, Squall noticed that Quistis' team was resting outside the training area while Dr Kadowaki ran some tests on them. "Damn that Seifer. Who does he think he is anyway? We'll loose points if he doesn't get a grip on himself." One student complained.

What was he up to this time around, Squall wondered. Quistis caught sight of Squall and waved to him. Squall did have eyes in his head, but he didn't bother returning the wave, in a slim hope that it'd discourage Quistis from making any further advances on him. Though knowing Quistis, that hope was slim indeed.

Just as he'd predicted, Quistis walked over to him. Her class had a break for the time being and she was a very social girl who didn't mind Squall's coldness. Why on earth did Quistis persist? Squall wanted to keep her at an arms length at all times, but she kept invading his "personal bubble" whenever the chance presented itself.

"Hi Squall, how are things going?" She greeted him with a smile. From bad to worse when you decided to interact with me, Squall grumbled mentally, but kept silent as always. "Oh? An Aura stone?" Quistis noticed the yellow glowing stone in Squall's hand. Oh boy, now he'd hear it.

"How did you get that? Don't tell me you're starting to act like Seifer and taking shortcuts?" Quistis asked him, looking worried. "...not at all." He replied, figuring that he better speak up to that question otherwise there would be no end to it. Once Quistis went into "caring & loving big sister mode", the only one that could shut her up was instructor Xu.

Quistis eyed Squall's face carefully, as if she was trying to determine whether he was lying or not. Squall remained unaffected by Quistis' examination, but he did find her annoying. Couldn't she give him a little bit more credit? He'd be the best there ever was, someday, but he'd get there fair and square. As far as he could tell, there was no pressure despite that he knew that people expected things from him.

"So, you just found it?" Quistis asked. Squall groaned at her question. Did he really have to explain himself to her? "It's a GF item refinery assignment." Squall sighed, as if it explained everything. Quistis nodded approvingly at his reply. "Makes sense that someone like you were allowed to experiment with such a powerful item." She said, smiling.

Yeah, sure, whatever Squall thought while he evaded Quistis' eyes. "Seifer is at it again." Quistis said, changing the subject. Why did she tell him this? Seifer wasn't his concern, it was the instructor in charge who should be told this.

"We were suppose to practice with Status magic today and it all went fine until we were called out so that the other half of the class could have a round too." She explained. "As one would have expected, Seifer refused to listen. Feeling that it was his "right" as a prodigy, he'd stay inside for another round." Quistis gave Squall a story he didn't want to hear.

What others said and did wasn't his table. Everyone should sweep for their own door, since in the end you can't rely on a single soul. You always fight the final battle alone, so if you're too dependent on others, you're used to fight along with others, you'd loose your final battle before it even began. The way Squall saw it, the final battle, whatever and whenever that might be, was all that mattered.

"He might listen to you, Squall." Quistis hinted carefully. That did produce a response in Squall. He looked straight in her eyes to see if she was just pulling his leg, but it was obvious that she wasn't. "You're his equal Squall, that goes a long way in Seifer's world." Quistis pointed out.

Granted, if you compared the numbers, you'd find out that Seifer and Squall were not only dangerously close to perfection, but also equally strong. There had been a few times in the past when an instructor though that there was a mistake, that for some reason there were two copies of the same student sheet, Squall and Seifer were that close to one another progress wise.

Even if Squall was Seifer's equal there was no way Seifer would listen to him. Why? Simply because by telling Seifer to back down, take 5 minutes of rest, save it for another day or whatever lousy excuse Squall'd use, he'd admit his own limitations. Admitting your limitations to a guy like Seifer weren't the best of ideas, simply because you'd never hear the end of it.

Besides, Squall would never admit his limitations to Seifer. Quistis still waited patiently for a reply, so Squall gave her the standard indifferent shrug before leaving. For the most part, that was that. The shrug worked, however this time around, Quistis wouldn't hear of it. "Squall, those monster in there are real. If Seifer's exhausted he could get himself killed, is that what you want?" She asked him, while she held on to his arm.

"It's not my problem." Squall said over his shoulder. It was true that he didn't want Seifer dead, it was just that... why wouldn't Quistis just... accept, if not understand him, at the very least accept him for what he was? Squall wasn't some nanny that held people in their hands and made sure that they were safe and brushed their teeth. Hats off to those who were that kind of person, by all means, just leave Squall out of it.

"Squall?" Quistis still insisted on a reply. "I've a class to attend." Squall replied. "You're ahead of the schedule by 4 months, the instructors hardly ever stop talking about your performance." Quistis pointed out. "I don't have my gunblade with me." Squall then counterargument. "You've been Garden's top student long before you even knew what a gunblade was." Quistis really didn't budge today, did she?

On the outside, Squall looked calm and collected, though not happy with the situation. On the inside, he was nearly boiling over. "Seifer can fend for himself!" Squall shouted. The dam had burst as Squall yanked himself free from Quistis' hand.

It was very uncommon for Squall to raise his voice, so when he first did, the whole Garden froze still for a few seconds. Everyone was looking at the two of them with wide eyes and mouths gaping with amazement. Squall wanted to dig a hole and hide, it was so uncomfortable being stared at like this, from every angle thinkable.

Unable to take it any longer, Squall turned on his heel and strode away. I don't want to be responsible for anyone, least of all Seifer, Squall thought as he stopped in front of the elevator. People would talk and Seifer would hear it sooner or later, so in a sense the damage was already done. If Seifer thought he could rub Squall's nose into this as well, he'd quickly be proven wrong.

Seifer came walking out from the training area, his uniform a total mess, his face covered with soot and dried up monster blood, nevertheless, Seifer couldn't have been happier. Status magic was fun to say the least. While elemental magic for the most part had an immediate effect and that was that, Status magic hung around and did little drops of damage every now and then.

Zombie Powder smelled like overused gym-socks, but proved useful if you wanted to give your opponent an unpleasant surprise. Seifer couldn't think of any other better way to turn the tides of battle than making the healer of the squad the most powerful fighter.

It had happened by a mistake. Seifer had found some Zombie Powder after beating a Grat to pulp and decided to give it a test on his next enemy. A trio of Grats came around the corner and Seifer got on with the program.

Throwing the powder into the first Grats face, Seifer quickly moved over to the second to give it a few quick slashes with his gunblade before falling back to study the effects of the strange powder.

Much to his disappointment, the powder didn't seem to have any effect at all. Disposing of the two other Grats, Seifer began slashing down the third Grat as well. Figuring that it was a little too boring, Seifer decided to keep the Grat alive with healing magic. After all, he'd yet to decide on a Limit Break technique, so this lucky Grat would be the first of many test subjects.

That's when he noticed it; the Zombie Powder had infected the tissue of the Grat, making it reject healing magic. A quick experiment later and Seifer noticed that it even counted for healing items. "Sweet." He'd smirked before cutting the poor Grat down and putting it out of its misery.

After that, Seifer felt that he'd learned enough for one day and headed for the nearest exit. Once outside, Seifer noticed the mute commotion that hung over the main hall. Most people's eyes were at Quistis whom stood a little away from the entry bridge leading to the training area. Another lover's quarrel, Seifer wondered.

Squall was a good guy as far as Seifer saw things, though he was incredible dense on some fields, women being one of them. It wasn't much of a secret that Quistis was attracted to Squall for reasons unintelligible to Seifer. Squall had caught the eyes of certain female students recently, but he remained indifferent as always.

If it had been something else, Seifer would have been jealous and done something about the issue, pronto. For now however, Seifer didn't have much interest in women. For him it was all a matter of priorities. Perhaps it was the same for Squall? Then again there was always the chance that Squall was more into boys than girls.

Seifer chuckled at the thought. What a hilarious sight that would have been, Squall coming to breakfast while holding hands with another male student, or better yet, hand in hand with a male instructor. Wiping tears out of his eyes, Seifer calmed down and headed over to the boys dorm.

After a fresh shower, a change of clothes and some stretching exercises, Seifer felt like a pile of gils. It was still a good hour until dinner would be served at the cafeteria. Perhaps he'd scout out Squall and ask him about what happened between him and Quistis earlier? Sure, why not? He'd review his studies after dinner.

Seifer never knocked on doors, he either just waltzed in like he owned the place or if it was locked, he'd hammer on the door until it either fell down or whomever was on the other side opened. Squall was always reluctant to open for guests, regardless of what time or season it was, so whenever Seifer came by to visit, it was usually a loud affair.

This time was an exception however. Seifer nearly fainted at the sight, since at first glance it looked like Squall and that dumb-ass Zell were studying together. At a closer look, Seifer noticed that Squall and Zell were reading two quite different things. Squall had his nose dug deep in the cleaning manual to his gunblade, while Zell was reading a magazine of some sort.

"So what's going on around here?" Seifer asked, leaning in the doorway. Zell looked up from his magazine, but Squall didn't move a muscle. "I mean, since so many pathetic losers have gathered in the same room. Is there some sort of annual meeting going on?" Seifer added. Zell was trembling with anger, with a statue like Squall sitting across the table.

Squall finally looked up from his book. "I was wondering..." He began, much to Seifer and Zell's amazement. "...what time is it?" Zell and Seifer exchanged glances at Squall's question. "Dinner will be served in half an hour." Zell answered uneasily. Squall rested his chin in his hand and planted the elbow on the table, nodding to himself.

"Heard you and Quistis were having another lover's quarrel." Seifer said. Zell dropped of the chair with a loud crash at Seifer's words. Squall glanced over at Zell to see what all the commotion was about, but quickly lost interest. "You two are... are... l-l-l-lovers!" He asked in a state of shock, sitting flat on the floor.

Squall gave him an annoyed glare, as if he was scolding a child with only his eyes. "Are you?" Seifer asked. Squall gave him a pained glance, saying: "you know better than that" with his eyes. "When is the wedding?" Seifer sniggered. Zell looked ready to faint. Who could blame him? To him, Squall was lost in a fog of mystery and he hadn't known Squall long enough to separate truth from lies.

Rising from his chair, Squall gathered his things and headed off into his room. A tactical retreat, the same as always, Seifer sniffled a yawn. This wasn't half as fun as he'd hoped it'd be. Then Squall delivered the second surprise to the two young men. He came back out with his gunblade suitcase in hand.

Walking past Seifer in the doorway, he stopped out in the hall. With a short nudge with his head, Squall quietly "challenged" Seifer, saying: "come on then" with his nudging motion. Seifer was thrilled, now he'd show Squall what it meant to be skilled in combat.

Squall headed straight for the training area, with Seifer close behind. Once there, Squall found a quiet corner and unpacked his gunblade. "What do you wish to achieve this time around?" Seifer asked. Squall remained silent and took a few deep breaths.

"Great, you can breathe and hold a gunblade at the same time." Seifer commented sarcastically. Squall kept on ignoring Seifer, well aware that the fuse to Seifer's impatience was already lit. The minutes dragged on and Seifer grew more and more impatient. "Okay, you're known to be a guy of few words, but this is ridiculous, even by your standards." Seifer grunted.

Then it came, fast and unexpected. Squall slashed towards Seifer's face and missed by several inches. Although he was caught off guard and quite startled by the unexpected manoeuvre, Seifer gathered his wits around soon enough. "You missed me, not to mention you violated fundamental training..." Seifer broke himself up.

Squall never aimed at Seifer in the first place, he'd aimed at a butterfly. The butterfly had one wing cut in half horizontally, struggling to keep itself in the air. Seifer had to admit it, whether he liked it or not, Squall had talent. Instructor Tsugumi would be proud.

It was a hard blow for Seifer's pride. He was Squall's senior, he'd studied the art of being a gunblade specialist a whole year longer than him. Despite this, Squall was already now breathing down his neck skill wise. "Cutting insects is one thing, cutting down the enemy is another." Seifer snorted.

Squall glared at Seifer for a moment than he shrugged indifferently. "It's a start." He said before packing up his gunblade.


	4. I Won't Change My Mind

**I Won't Change My Mind**

It was another day with theory class. Please let this one go by quickly, Squall mentally pleaded to whatever forces might be in charge of his life. "So like, if we go in here..." The girl in charge of the group suggested, pointing at the blueprint. On today's menu was tactics, the class had been divided into groups of 5, each given the same scenario of a hostage situation. The first period would be to come up with a suitable tactic to solve the situation at hand, the second period each group would present their solution for the rest of the class.

Squall had somehow ended up with the worst group members imaginable, nick-named "the idiot squad". For some weird reason, the instructor in charge of the class had put Squall there. The reason? Squall was so good that he'd be of great help bringing the overall average of the group up. "What do you think, Squall?" The group leader asked, bring Squall out if his thought wandering and back to the depressing reality that was in front of him.

I think this is a waste of my time, Squall thought. While it was true that these rather hopeless SeeD candidates could pick up a trick or seven from him, Squall didn't see this as him raising their levels closer to his, it was more like them dragging him down to theirs. They'd have to depend on themselves, team work wasn't Squall's bag. When the time came, Squall'd say what he needed to pass the class and ditch his group so fast, he'd be out of the classroom before the thudding sound of them hitting rock bottom could be heard.

Glancing at the blueprint and browsing thoroughly through the papers that listed the details of the operation, Squall worked up a plan. Haste, double and protect spells on the extractors then rush in, grab the hostages, quickly cast protect spells on them to cut down on potential damage. Leave the fighting against the kidnappers for local security forces, as the mission states that hostage rescue takes priority. Defensive as there are civilians involved and moreover, the scene of the crime is a museum. Not the best place to go in with guns blazing.

The bell rang, this period had reached its end. Some students took the moment for a quick break, stretch their legs for a little while and take their minds off the task and shift over to more casual things, like comics. Squall on the other hand just sank down in his seat, rested his elbows on his desk and rested his chin on the back of his hands. Scratching his hair for a bit, Squall noticed it was soon time to get a haircut. When his hair got close to his shoulders, Squall usually had it cut a few inches.

Break time was over and the presentation of the various groups started as soon as everyone was gathered. Squall didn't really see or hear anything new. Given the resources that they had at their disposal, there was a general common thread in all the presentations. Once a group was done, the rest of the class systematically went for pro's and con's of the solution presented. Later, the various tactics would be simulated where a team of SeeD's would be the kidnappers and hostages, while the SeeD candidates would carry out their respective tactic.

As they've been told time and time again, theory is one thing, reality is another. Although it would sound unfair for the freshmen to go up against the veterans like that, there were no other way to gather accurate evaluation data. Of course, the SeeD's would not be informed of the tactics which would be used against them, but needless to say whomever got to be the first group to test out their tactic had the edge.

Finally it was Squall's and his group's turn. As usually Squall had flatly denied to be group leader, despite the fact that he was a painfully obvious choice for the job. The girl that had quite reluctantly taken the role as group leader stuttered and stammered her way through the introduction. "Just a quick question, if you don't mind." The instructor cut in. "Y-y-yes?" The girl halted in her speech. "Do you have something to add to this, Mr Leonhart?" The instructor asked, looking over at Squall, whom had found himself a place near the wall.

Here we go again, Squall sighed. "I stand by the captains decision." He replied simply, leaning back against the wall and folding his arms over his chest. Things went pretty downhill from there. The plan was sliced and diced over obvious flaws and needless action. Might as well have just blown the place up with a rocket launcher, Squall frowned to himself, museum, kidnappers and hostages alike. He could see the end result even now; Mission failure...

Swapping magic came up in the next class. Basically you took a part or you entire junction configuration and transferred it to another person. Since para-magic was based on GF's and GF's resided within a persons mind, swapping magic was a mind job of dimensions. You had to keep a tight leash on the spells you wanted to keep, the ones that was not junctioned to a specific function and the ones that were. Normally the GF handled all these petty details, but when it came to transferring spells, it had to be done manually.

The whole idea of reaching out with your mind to "touch" another one, not to mention that you had to openly invite a stranger into your own mind was something Squall wasn't happy about. Granted, there were endless amounts of articles and reports stating that both spells and GF's were located in a different section of the brain than your personality and memory, so strictly speaking it would be impossible (or extremely difficult) for person A to control, read memories or alter the personality to person B through para-magic. Closest thing one could get was a few spells such as Berserk or Confuse, though one could hardly call any of these spells as means of controlling your opponent. It was more like... limiting their actions a little.

Reaching into the mind of his partner, Squall found the Thunder spells he was looking for and formed a mental hand folding its fingers around 4 of the 18 spells. Gently he started to guide the spells towards his own mind and he gradually felt his partners mind loosening his grip on the spells. A few balls of light and energy came into view and the spells glided through the space between the two young boys before they faded into Squall. Next, the spells were assigned to Elementary defense, then repeat until all spells had been transferred.

In order to verify that they had been assigned properly, all candidates had to step on a platform. The platform was eclectically charged. If you had it right, your hair would just stand up due the electricity. If you had it wrong, depending on how wrong you got it, you'd be stunned or knocked off the platform. Squall stepped up and felt a tingling sensation at the tip of his fingers, but other than that, everything was in order. Since Squall passed the class with top marks, he was excused though not until he had turned in the GF and spells to a Garden Faculty.

Quistis was assisting the Garden Faculty with storage of the spells and GF's. "How did it go, Squall?" She asked him with a smile. Squall made a faint face of some sort before turning his attention to his junction setup. "Mr Leonhart, instructor Xu wished to have a word with you. She's waiting at the infirmary." The Garden Faculty grumbled as he packed away his tools. "Understood." Squall nodded before heading over to the infirmary.

Once he arrived, Squall found instructor Xu sitting in the bed and just left of her, Fujin was sitting. By the looks of it, Fujin had been upset, though it appeared that she had calmed down for now. Squall figured that Xu had been with her and nursed her back, sort of speak. "Instructor." Squall greeted Xu, though he fully ignored Fujin. "Mr Leonhart, I'm glad you arrived so quickly. I'd like you to look after Fujin until dinnertime." Xu explained as she turned around to face him.

Come again? He had to babysit a freshman? Squall's mouth was so full of words, not a single one could make it out past his lips. "I..." He began, though Xu cut him short. "Mr Leonhart." Her voice had a little edge to it, enough to make Squall stop dead in his tracks. "A word with you, in private if you please." Xu continued, rising from the bed she guided Squall out in the hallway.

Well outside, Xu shot a sharp glare into Squall. Uh-oh, lecture alert, Squall thought to himself, but he didn't allow his face or eyes to let on what he was thinking. "Mr Leonhart, I know this isn't what you're good at, but I've spent as much time as I can with her. She had a rough day and needs time to let it sink in and process what she's been through. I'd use Quistis if I could, but she's tangled up in other duties and you don't have any other classes today." Xu began.

Darn it, Squall thought. "I'd like to do some extra study instructor." He objected. "On what? You're ahead in all your classes and you're certainly holding your own in Gunblade class. Leave the studies alone for a while and learn to be around other people. There's more to the proverb _know your enemy_ than weapon specs and tactics." Xu brushed away Squall's objection with a deathblow. There was no helping it, Squall was stuck with Fujin.

Heading back into the infirmary, Squall stopped aways from the bed and looked down to where Fujin sat. She looked so small and vulnerable, however Squall wasn't feeling sorry for her or getting the sensation that he wanted to make her smile. He was disappointed that she was indeed as weak as he first had thought. Shy and timid... what can such a person do on a battlefield? Not much, Squall figured. "Hey, lets go." He grunted to Fujin.

His blunt and cold tone seemed to hit Fujin like a bolt of lightning and she shot out of bed. "...uhm, where do we go?" She asked, looking carefully over at Squall, but avoiding direct eye contact. Squall didn't bother with a reply, he just started walking as he figured that Fujin was smart enough to tag along. Rather, Fujin was too shocked and stunned to do otherwise. His hunch proved right as he could hear the careful "please-don't-mind-me" footsteps of Fujin's shoes a few meters behind his own.

Squall had his mind set on training and even more training. Fujin was just extra luggage. He had no intention of having a heart to heart talk with the girl. If she didn't have what it took to be a SeeD, too bad, so sad, shit happens. She could take the next train home for all he cared. Truth be told, he didn't care at all. While Squall was good at hiding his inner thoughts and feelings around SeeD's and instructors, around his fellow candidates it was a whole different story. He reeked of cold, unfriendly and indifferent aura.

Indeed, he did live up to his name; a short and intense rainstorm. Their walk took them through the main hall and north to the dormitory. From there, with Squall in the lead, they headed to the boy's dorm. With half violent and angry movements did he pick up his Gunblade suitcase from under his bed and walked straight out. Fujin nervously stepped aside to give him a clear path out to the hallway.

For the whole walk not a word was said and a unpleasant pulpy mood hung over the odd couple. "E-excuse me." Fujin finally spoke up. Squall halted in his tracks and glanced dully over his shoulder. "I... uhm... I need to..." Fujin fidgeted hesitantly. Following her eyes, Squall's eyes landed on the door to the women's WC. What are you, 2 years old, Squall frowned to himself. "Could you wait?" Fujin asked. He knew all too well that girls, for whatever reason, were unfamiliar with a quick trip to the toilet.

Not bothering giving her the painfully obvious answer, Squall just started walking again. He'd find himself a nice quiet corner on Balamb Garden grounds and do some precision training with his Gunblade. Too bad the training grounds were taken by the freshman classes, since it was only there he could use bullets.

What happened to Fujin was no concern of his, even if instructor Xu had packed the two of them together. The way Squall saw it, Fujin would not last out the month, if even the week. So even if she ran crying to instructor Xu about how badly she'd been treated by him, it would easily blow over. Instead, Squall would focus on his training.

He found himself a tree that was in bloom and unpacked his Gunblade. After a little warm-up, he was all set. The exercise was simple in theory, yet hard in practice. First Squall gave the tree a solid kick with his foot. Having nothing junctioned, it ended with a faint thud, but it served its purpose; flower leaves started to drop down. Quickly Squall got into his stance and slashed around with his sword. After a good 5-6 swings, he stopped and inspected the ground to see how many flower leaves he'd managed to cut and how symmetrical the pieces were.

Hard work and near impossible to get right, but with assistance of GF's along with a proper junction setup, it could be done with very impressive results. However, those results weren't from junction alone. Junction was just an extension of what you already knew and could do. Precision, strength, speed, reflexes and so on needed to be trained with nothing junctioned, so that your body was used to it. This is what further laid the foundation for how you'd preform with something junctioned.

At the corner of his eye, Squall spotted Fujin as she carefully walked down the steps and found herself a seat on a bench. By the looks of it she had made a quick stop at the cafeteria and bought some juice as she had a small carton that she drank from. ...whatever, Squall thought and carried on with his training.

In the blazing late summer sun, Squall soon found himself soaked to the bone with sweat. Disgusting in a way, but it was also testament to his hard and honest work, so it also felt kinda good. His jacket was hindering his movements as it became moist with his sweat. Putting down his Gunblade, Squall took of his dark blue jacket and hung it on a nearby branch.

All those hours swinging around with a heavy Gunblade, not to mention the endless amount of push-ups he had done, really put some muscle on his arms. His shoulders had grown bigger and broader, something that showed very clearly as he stood in just a tank top. As he cast a glance over at Fujin, he noticed that her brown eyes sparkled with marvel.

Holy Hyne, don't tell me that she's falling for me, Squall panicked for a fraction of a second. He might be a bit slow and dense when it comes to the finer details around emotions and relationships, but he did know the principles of lust. In the end, Squall decided not to give it much of a thought. It would only distract him and he'd just risk hurting himself or someone else if he wasn't focused on his training.

Another hour and a half went by before Squall decided to take a break. His arms were trembling after the workout. There was no doubt in his mind, he'd sleep like a rock tonight as well. Unconsciously he took a seat next to Fujin and slided into a relaxed and laid-back position, taking deep breaths and sniffing every now and then. He rested his head at the top of the back of the bench, looking up at the sky.

Drops of sweat tickled his cheeks as he just relaxed every bone in his body. "How can you keep doing that?" Fujin asked. Squall didn't get the question, so he just looked at her with his blue eyes questioningly, still not moving a muscle save his breathing. "You're so... dedicated. Usually you look kinda... dead as you walk from one class to the other, but..." Fujin paused, thinking over her words. "But once you start training, you seem so... alive." She concluded.

Alive, huh? That was one way of seeing it. I'd just wish you could leave me alone, Squall mentally sighed as he turned his attention back to the drifting clouds high up in the sky. "When instructor Xu guided our class through the training area, we got ambushed by a T-Rexaur." Fujin explained. "It just hit me then and there; this is it, I'm going to die." She admitted, though Squall was uncertain if it was to herself or to him she was admitting these facts.

Fujin carried on with her confession, if that was the term. She was soft spoken as she told Squall about how the kind and understanding instructor Xu had transformed in a blink of an eye to something else. It was terrifying, to be within arms reach of the grim reaper. As if her feet had merged with the ground, Fujin couldn't move. Other SeeD's had heard the ruckus of Xu's fight and came to her assistance. One SeeD fell in as Xu's second, assisting her with spells and healing. The other SeeD's swiftly evacuated the freshmen out of the training grounds. Last one to leave the scene was Fujin.

Instructor Xu took it on herself to get Fujin to safety. Shocked and stunned, Fujin hadn't responded to Xu when she told her to leave. The last thing she remembered was Xu's hoarse voice screaming over the T-Rexaur's deep bass roar; "Alica, we are leaving!!" When Fujin came to, they were in the infirmary. Apparently, instructor Xu had knocked the wind out of Fujin, causing her to faint. From there, Xu along with the SeeD called Alicia had made dash for the exit.

Shock and fear came crawling back into Fujin's system and she broke down in wailing tears until she could cry no more. From there she and instructor Xu had a chat regarding the grim realities of war. "She told me that it still wasn't too late, that I could still change my mind." Fujin concluded her confession.

Squall hadn't paid the slightest attention to Fujin. Instead he had turned his attention to stretching out properly so that he wouldn't be in for a painful morning the next day. "I'll go get a shower and then go to get some dinner." He said as he packed down his Gunblade. Fujin said nothing, but she had a faint smile on her face as Squall walked past her.

Suitcase in one hand and his jacket loosely tossed over his opposite shoulder, Squall was looking forward to a shower. On his way back to the dorm, Squall walked past Zell whom was making merry with some fellow classmates and he noticed Quistis posting today's cafeteria menu. She was in the cafeteria committee after all.

In the common room that he shared with his roommates, Squall saw instructor Xu was sitting by the table, possibly waiting for him to return. The two didn't say anything to each other. Squall just quietly put away his Gunblade and gathered his shampoo, towel and some fresh clothes. On his way out of his room and to the showers, Xu casually asked: "How did it go?" He gave it a moment's thought, but said nothing. How was he suppose to know if it went good or bad?

After the shower, Squall joined the rest of the SeeD candidates for dinner. Today's menu was chicken, rice and sauce. The chat around the many tables was happy and not too loud. It was usually buzzing like this at the start of a new semester. It appeared that Seifer was skipping out again, probably up to no good as usual, Squall figured.

Once the dinner was over, it was time for desert; chocolate pudding with vanilla sauce. Quistis took her time as usually to try and get Squall to talk about his day, but it ended as it always did; Quistis talked about her day. Stopping nagging me, Squall grumbled in his mind. When someone pulled a prank on Zell, Squall took that as his cue and cover to sneak out of the cafeteria unnoticed.

It was still some time until curfew, so Squall decided to do some reading in the 2nd floor classroom to see if instructor Tsugumi had posted anything of interest on the Garden network. Crossing the bridge that connected the elevator and the 2nd floor hallway, Squall met Fujin and Raijin. The two of them seemed to be getting along just fine and was discussing something about healing items, though Squall didn't get the details.

Fujin looked up to meet Squall's eyes, but he avoided hers by looking slightly in the opposite direction. When he came into the classroom, Squall went to take a seat where he usually sat, at the far back. He casually browsed through the various sites on the network with halfhearted interest. Nothing new that he needed to make special note of it seemed. The door slid open and Squall cast a glance up from his desk to see who it was. Instructor Xu came in, looking for some papers or something along those lines as far as Squall could tell.

She gathered a few papers and some computer discs that was on the instructors desk at the front of the classroom before she took a seat. Squall didn't look up, but he could tell from the sounds that she was booting up the instructor terminal. Probably needs to post something on the network, Squall shrugged and gave it no more attention.

A couple of minutes of silence came and went before Squall decided to call it the day. Early to bed, early to rise he figured. If he remembered correctly, they'd start with running through the tactics Squall's class had made earlier today first thing in the morning. Guess I should be fit for fight, Squall thought and headed for the door.

Xu was still browsing through the network on her terminal as Squall was walking up the door. "About Fujin..." She called out to Squall. Rats, not this again, Squall mentally groaned. "You did well, Mr Leonhart." Xu smiled faintly while still looking at the monitor. Squall gave her a curious and puzzled look. Xu simply nudged her head at the monitor as if inviting Squall to take a look.

Squall decided, despite himself, that he'd take a peek. It was a bulletin post from Fujin to instructor Xu. It simply read: _I won't change my mind._


	5. Believe It Or Not

**Believe It Or Not**

Calintz, a boy burning with the desire for Quistis Trepe. The moment he had first met her, it was as if he had died and gone to heaven. Everything had stopped and the world revolved around her and her alone; Quistis. She had it all as she was smart (top of her class even), kind (even the girls were swarming over her with admiration), a beauty without equal (as far as blonde's went anyways) and most of all... single!

This goddess, this embodiment of perfection was so close, yet so far away. For whatever reason, she kindly and politely turned down any given guy that had asked her out. Sure, she liked to help people out and was on friendly terms with just about everyone that attended Balamb Garden, but..! She never, ever took that last step and dated someone.

At first it was thought that she was playing on her own team only, to put it in a diplomatic manner. However, when Quistis was finally confronted with these speculations, she brushed it away with a golden giggle and crushed at least 4 young girls hearts at the same time. Cruel as it might sound, thank Hyne for that. The boys still had a chance.

One student in particular had made it his sacred mission to win Quistis' heart. That would be Calintz, whom transferred from Galbadia Garden two years back. Quistis was one year his senior, but that didn't bother him the slightest. This year, he said to himself, this year will be the one for sure.

The school bell rang and the period ended. "I'm happy on your behalf, Calintz." The girl sitting next to him smiled. "Huh? Why's that?" He asked her, packing his things. The two of them walked towards the instructors desk to hand in some paperwork for reviewing when the girl whispered to Calintz: "You didn't pay attention to the instructor at all, because you were day dreaming again. Lucky you, the instructor didn't notice and he didn't say anything important either."

He blushed with embarrassment at her words, mainly because she hit the nail on the head. There was no way to pull a fast one on Aya, her eyes were too darn sharp for that. No wonder she would take scouting and sniper class starting this term. "What can I say girl? I'm crazy in love!" Calintz admitted. "Well then, please collect your sanity for the next class, Mr Calintz." Instructor Brian noted dryly.

Aya had a merry laugh on Calintz expense as the two left the 2nd floor classroom. "Darn it Aya, I think it is unfair of you not to say anything back there." He pouted to his friend. "Awh, c'mon Calintz! Pay a little more attention to your surroundings, you're 13 already." Aya laughed while wiping away a joyful tear from her left eye. "13 and a half..." Calintz pouted to himself. They entered the elevator and took it down to the ground floor.

The main hall was busy as it usually was when the half day break was in. Plenty of freshmen still hadn't quite settled in with the rather strict protocol that the Garden Faculty's preferred to run, so things were always lively around this hour. Of course things would settle down as the first couple of months past by, but it was this time that Calintz liked the most.

It was so fresh and filled with positive energy. "So, what scheme are you running this year?" Aya asked her friend, nudging his side with her elbow. "Scheme? What are you talking about girl?" He laughed nervously. Shit, she's on to me again, he thought to himself. "No need to hide it, you'll pull up a year long plan to win Quistis over, I just know it." Aya said in a matter of fact tone. She was a good girl, Aya, but she had a master's degree in getting on Calintz nerves at the drop of a hat.

Even so, she was again, right on the dollar. First year he tried to get to know Quistis by attending her classes. It was a direct approach that failed miserably. Quistis' mere presence was enough to turn Calintz into a stuttering and sweating fool. To make matters worse, Quistis' classes were hard. Not to mention that due to Quistis special Blue Magic ability, she was often taken out of regular classes to take special lessons from instructors coming all the way from Trabia Garden, where Blue Magic was more common.

For a moment, Calintz had been terrified that the rumors that Quistis would transfer and not come back until SeeD Field Exam were true. Everything was correct, except for one little detail; Quistis had argued day and night against it. For whatever reason, she insisted on staying at Balamb. Of course this little secret reason for Quistis staying behind spawned gossip like rabbits.

The next year, Calintz decided on a more indirect approach. He managed, with help from Aya, to persuade Quistis in joining the cafeteria committee. While initially a great success (Quistis did join and found herself enjoying her time in the kitchen), it also backfired. The original idea was to praise Quistis cooking, even if it was enough to kill a Catoblepas with a single mouthful, thus win her affection.

A serious miscalculation was of course Quistis actual cooking, which became so popular she had to stop making food for the cafeteria, as people started fighting over it in the waiting line. Calintz never got the chance to taste a single bite, as he couldn't muster the courage to ask if Quistis would make him lunch or something along those lines.

It was in fact during this time that Aya and Calintz got to know each other. The two got of a bumpy start as Calintz said that her red wine sauce shouldn't be flushed down the toilet, despite its terrible taste, in fear for the well being and overall survival of the local echo system. Things went seriously downhill when Calintz, to his defense, blurted out: "Well at least I didn't say the global echo system!"

This year, he'd give it a different go. He himself had signed up as the leader of the Garden festival committee and had his eyes set on Quistis. Giving her multi-talent abilities, Calintz was certain that she could deliver one heck of a show, regardless of what she was set to do. It was perfect! A solo act, he would give her directions as she stood on the stage in the quad. The two of them all alone in a late night practice... NYAHAHAHAHHAHA!! He could barely wait.

Near the entrance to the training grounds, Calintz spotted Quistis waiting. She was indeed a dedicated student, but why would she just wait there? If she wanted to train, couldn't she just enter. Calintz decided to walk over and investigate. A chance for some casual small talk never hurt, he smirked to himself.

As he approached the entrance to the training grounds, he heard a woman's voice speak loudly with foul words. Some were old classics, but there were plenty of new ones and even a good handful that Calintz not only haven't heard before, but didn't even know what meant. The long string of curses ended with a deep boom and a gust of wind blowing from inside the training grounds and into the main hall.

Quistis skirt snapped around her thighs angrily for a short moment before it settled down again. "Hey Quistis, how are..." Calintz began, but discovered that Quistis for once didn't even notice him or anything else for that matter. Her eyes where fixed on the inner most door of the training grounds and she looked very troubled. Finally the double doors opened and white smoke came sliding forward as a thin fog. Gunblade class had ended.

Instructor Tsugumi came out first, looking angry and stern as usual. "You two meatbags better get your acts together by the end of the week or the hell I dragged you through today will be a picnic compared to the hell I'll give you if you don't show some improvement." She barked at her two students. Both Squall and Seifer just gave some weak nods to confirmed that they've heard their instructions.

Calintz observed the scene unfold, but instructor Tsugumi's powerful presence took most of his attention. If the devil ever had a daughter, he thought to himself. "There's no doubt in my mind." Seifer panted as he bent over to catch his breath, resting his hands on his trembling knees. "She is the dark queen that glorifies cruelty." Squall managed somehow to gather his composure and staggered on shaky legs down the hallway.

As he came up to Quistis, he paid her no attention and just kept on going, one weak footstep at the time. "Squall, about those status item notes that you asked for." Quistis spoke up, offering him a notebook she'd been holding on to as if it was a dear treasure. There was no reply, Squall just took another step and then another. What the...? What was riding thins jerk, Calintz thought.

Here, Quistis Trepe, THE Quistis, was offering him her handwritten notes and he walked on by as if she didn't even exist. Moreover, the jerk even had the nerve to ask for them and THEN ignore her? Calintz wouldn't stand for it. "Hey, you!" He called after Squall. "Quistis is talking to you." Squall halted in his walk and glared over his shoulder. "...whatever." He actually growled before resuming his walk.

Calintz was about to speak up again, but Quistis was the one that stopped him. She simply put a hand on his shoulder and quietly shook her head. "He had a rough day, I can always hand them over at dinner." She told Calintz. Quistis, Quistis... you're just too kind, Calintz thought, feeling blessed by her gentle touch on his shoulder. Soft and slightly warm, her touch was one of kindness. "WHOA! Squall, what happened to you?" It was this loud freshman again, Zell or something along those lines, Calintz noted.

Dinnertime came and Calintz was dead set on mentioning the Garden festival committee to Quistis before curfew. Problem was that her table was all taken, by junior female students that also flocked around Quistis like bee to honey. Couldn't blame them, as most girls saw Quistis as their idol. "Just give it a rest. If you walk right in now, you'll just get gunned down by that mob." Aya said as if she knew what was on Calintz' mind. He hated this, but Aya was right. It would make him look like a fool for sure.

During the meal, Calintz kept an eye on Quistis to see if he could get an opening. If she went for more water, he could coincidently do the same, but alas that never happened. The junior girls made sure that their queen had everything she needed and then some. Salt, pepper, water, napkin, you name it, Quistis was given it all. The same suit followed when it came to desert, though there was this one guy that took a chance and made a pass at Quistis. All of the girls at her table glared him to silence.

I'd like for her to just walk over to me and talk, about anything, Calintz sighed to himself. Not sooner had he build the daydream in his mind, did Quistis stand up and excuse herself from her dining friends and walked over to Zell sitting a few tables down to the right. Lucky guy, that was my fantasy, Calintz sighed. Whatever the two were talking about, it didn't work out. Zell apologized to her before he had to leave.

What was that about, Calintz wondered. He was brought back to reality as Aya slowly poked his arm as if she'd seen a ghost. "What? You sure are annoying to... day..." Calintz words faded to a faint whimper. There she stood, Quistis, the queen of Balamb Garden, the golden goddess and her eyes were locked on him. Never had he felt so small in his life. "You're Calintz, right? From instructor Brian's class." She asked him. "Ah..." He was at a loss for words.

This was too good to be true, even by love comic book standards! "I was wondering if you could do me a favor." Quistis carried on. All he could do was nod, trying to hide the thrills that were running on a wild rampaging stampede inside. "I wanted to hand this notebook to Squall, Squall Leonhart from instructor Tsugumi's class, but it appears that he's not here." She explained casually. "You see, he has a test coming up in a few days and... well, I offered my notes, but he hasn't picked them up yet. I'd go myself if I could, but..." She broke off as she heard someone call her name. It was a SeeD, waving her over to the cafeteria counter. "I'm sorry, I have to go. Could you see to that he gets this notebook, please?" She rushed out her request and handed over the notebook from earlier.

Aya and Calintz just sat there, stunned with awe. Quistis had talked to Calintz, just... like... that. "Oh great, next thing you know, a Lunar Cry will happen, twice in a row!" Aya bursted out. "She talked to me!!" Calintz shot out of his seat as if he had won the gold medal in every event in the Olympics. Right now he was the undisputed king of the hill. "Hyne must be bored out of Her mind if she uses you for entertainment..." Aya commented dryly.

It was a gift from the Gods themselves, there was no way he'd let this one get to waste. Feeling more like flying than walking, Calintz headed over to the boys dorm, feeling like a walking gold mine. Once he arrived at Squall's room he found no one there. That's odd, where could he be? Calintz wanted witnesses that he had taken care of Quistis request, so he figured he better take the rounds to find this Squall fellow.

First stop was the library. He looked around and asked for him at the counter, but came up empty. Next was the infirmary, but he got chased outside before he could even ask why. Someone had been badly hurt during a routine mission and was in intensive care, or something along those lines. Then there was the quad. Once there he got nagged by a Garden Faculty who asked for details regarding this years Garden festival. After some sweet talking, Calintz managed to dodge further questions and carry on with his search.

The parking lot was as empty as usual, though he ran into Aya there who was looking for some tools she needed for something she wasn't willing to discuss. She was up to something alright, but whatever. A quick sweep of the cafeteria ended up with nothing. Last stop was the training area. Aside from a lover's couple that was sneaking off to the secret area, the place was empty. Not that Calintz did a good sweep, he was unarmed after all. No need to press his luck more than necessary.

In the end he decided to go back to his own room and wait it out for a while then do another sweep. When he came into his room he saw his roommate, Seifer sitting at the table, looking into a Flare stone and taking notes. "Do you even have clearance for that kind of item?" He asked Seifer. "Doesn't matter, no one is going to rat on me anyway." Seifer smirked. Damn what a confident and arrogant jerk. "Yeah and how do you figure that?" Calintz asked.

Seifer just looked up and as his eyes narrowed, his smirk widened to a grin. "Because if someone does, I'm going to find him and I'm going to lock him inside a hurt-locker." He chuckled. That gave Calintz the creeps. "OI! Stiff-stick, have you put stocks in that toilet since you're taking so damn long?!" Seifer barked at the toilet door. There was a flush of a toilet, the sizzling of water running in a sink before the door opened. Squall looked as his usual self, bored and indifferent.

Calintz was just about to step up to him when something red-pinkish glowing object caught the corner of his eye. Seifer, the madman had casually tossed the Flare stone over at Squall. Calintz dived for cover and prepared for the worst, but nothing happened. Carefully, he peeked out from under the table and saw Squall had caught it and that the stone rested safely in the palm of his hand. "Good reflexes stiff-stick." Seifer snorted with disappointment.

Squall put the Flare stone on the table and headed for the door. "Are you going to rat on me, Squall?" Seifer asked over his shoulder. "...not really." Squall mumbled. "That's a good boy." Seifer laughed quietly to himself. "Quistis will though." Squall added before leaving. "WHAT!?" Seifer spun around in his seat and found Quistis glaring at him from the doorway.

As Quistis started with her lectures again, Calintz took the moment to sneak out and catch up with Squall. "Hey you, Quistis wanted you to have this for the test that is coming up." He told Squall, sticking the notebook under Squall's nose. A moment of silence came and went before Squall spoke up. "The test is on Wednesday, give it back to her at the end of the day." He mumbled before walking past Calintz. "You're not going to use it? She went through a lot of trouble for your sake you know. How about some gratitude!?" Calintz shouted after Squall. "...she always does, she never needs to, for I'll never ask anything of her except to be left alone." Squall replied with a dullness to his voice.

He'd follow after Squall and give him a real piece of his mind, but by now the discipline committee came in on the scene and Squall was lost in the crowd that followed in their wake. Seifer was taken away to the headmaster's office yet again, the Flare stone was secured and the crowd broke up. The only one that remained was Quistis. "He said he didn't need it." Calintz said with a small, yet a little angry voice as he handed over the notebook to Quistis.

She took the notebook and flipped through the pages. "Was that all that he said?" She asked, her voice trembling a little as if... no, it couldn't be. Quistis wouldn't start to cry over such a jerk, never. "Well, no. He asked me to give it back to you at the end of Wednesday, when the test was done." He admitted. "He did, did he?" Quistis smiled faintly before sharply closing the notebook.

Later, an hour after curfew, Calintz and Aya were chatting over the internal phone system that Garden had. "I don't get those two, I just don't." Calintz pouted. "At any rate, did you get to present your offer to her, about the festival committee?" Aya asked. "Nope, there was no chance. Besides, I get this serious vibe from Quistis whenever this Squall character is around." Calintz explained. There was just something there, something that he could tell that he shouldn't step into unless invited to do so. Quistis was slightly different around Squall, for some reason.

"Anyways, it wasn't all that bad. You managed to learn a few valuable things about your goddess." Aya said, sniffling a yawn. "Yeah, and what was that if I might ask? I must have missed it." Calintz frowned, scratching his right knee a little absentmindedly. "For one, Quistis has emotions just like the rest of us, though her feelings for this Squall fellow goes by unnoticed." Aya explained.

"What good does that do me? Last thing I need is another rival on my list." He demanded of Aya. "She'll need to express her feelings, get it out of her system somehow. Music is said to be the mother tongue of feelings." Aya said simply. "And?" Calintz asked, his tired mind couldn't put the pieces together. "And believe it or not, that means that there's still hope for your plan. Even more so, I'd say that it is indeed the best shot you have at her." Aya replied.

The conversation ended shortly afterwards and Calintz was left to his thoughts. I'd like to know, your secret Quistis, he thought before he fell asleep. Over at the girls dorm, Quistis took of her glasses as she went to bed. After putting on her alarm clock and turning of the lights she looked over at her glasses as they rested on her bedside table on top of her notebook. Thank you, Squall was her last thought before drifting into dreams.

Squall was still sitting up late, preparing for Wednesday's test. _"Aren't you a kind young man?"_ A voice sniggered. "You're right, I was too kind back there. I'll listen to your advice next time around. Things seems to go smoother that way." Squall admitted, his attention still focused on his notes. _"Good, good... that's good to hear. Keep up the work Squall, you won't be strong if you let people slow you down like that you know."_ The voice laughed before fading away with a faint echo.

A sigh escaped Squall's lips. He turned around in his chair and looked into his empty room. The moon peeked out from between the drifting clouds and cast its pale silver light through the window. Looking at his shadow on the floor, Squall saw the silhouette of a big lion with five horns on its head and feathered wings flanking its broad shoulders. "I know Griever, I know." He mused to himself with another sigh before turning his attention back to his notes.


	6. August 23rd

**August 23rd**

I wake to the sound of a far away thunder wondering why this secret in your heart, why don't you let me share your thoughts? Something strange is going on, maybe something you've gone through? So often sadness in your eyes, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to...

Sometimes I wish I could understand him better. At any rate, I better get ready. Shower, shower. Oh, where did I put my slippers? Ah, there they are. The mornings are getting slightly darker by each day. I guess August is really coming to an end.

Hopefully things will get better later today. This awful weather doesn't suit the occasion at all. Well, at the end of the day, I guess it can't be helped. "Good morning!" Hmmm? "Oh, good morning Alex, Susan. Did you two sleep well?" Who'd thought those two sleepyhead's would be up so early. Guess the thunderstorm must have shaken them out of bed.

"Not so bad, all things considered. Alex was snoring less than usual." He, he, he. Susan has a sharp tongue for a girl. Hopefully she'll outgrow that trait later or she could get in some real trouble. "Hey! That's so mean of you, Susan!" And of course Alex is easy to embarrass. There is never a dull moment with that duo around. "I think I need to get a haircut soon." Idle chatter in the morning shower. I prefer mine with some peace and quiet, but this is a nice change of pace.

Let's see, thankfully I'm going to have just theory classes today, so I don't need to worry about getting my uniform dirty or work up a sweat. Didn't I have some perfume samples from the store around here somewhere? No, I borrowed that to Xu. Big mistake. I honestly don't know what she does with the perfume I borrow her. Drink it perhaps? Sometimes I do wonder, since no one can empty a perfume bottle as fast as she.

No matter. The deodorant and shampoo should get me through the day. I can always freshen up during lunch. What time is it? No worries then, I've still got plenty of time. If I'm smart, I'll do the bed now and... maybe it's time to change the sheets? They don't smell, so lets leave them for a couple of nights.

For first class I promised to help out instructor Brian with radio communication. The freshmen need to get the hang of the Phonetic Alphabet. Speaking of which, I haven't used it myself for a while, how did it go? Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel... erm... Indigo, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike... what's that crowd doing there? A fight? Don't tell me...?

Oh my..! Squall and Seifer, even this early in the morning. When will they ever learn? "C'mon, stop trying to hit and just hit me!" For the love of...! If one of the Garden Faculty sees this, they'll be in trouble deep. If instructor Tsugumi gets the sniff of this, they'll be nailed to the nearest wall with their own bones. I have to get through and break them up, they shouldn't be doing this, not today of all days.

"OOOH! That's gotta hurt!" Huh? Who hit who? Is it bad? I can't see a thing. "Well, well, well... guess I better give you the pleasure of drawing first blood, Squall. That was a good one, coming from a steep angle like that." Squall, please just this once, walk away. "What's with that glare? Ready for round two? I can go on all day long with you Squall, since you can't hit shit."

Squall, DON'T!! No you'll... fall for his trap. Now look at what mess you're in, he's holding you down with his own weight. "Seifer!" He doesn't hear me over this crowd. Darn these freshmen, can't they see how serious this is? "..and 6 and 7 and 8 aaaaaand...! 9! Wow, nine punches and you're still glaring like nobody's business. You're a though cookie Squall, but I'll break you."

I think I'm going to get sick. He looks awful with the nosebleed and it looks like he might have bitten his lip as well. "Uh-oh! Faculty at 7 o'clock, scram people!" Gone like snowflakes in the blizzard. When push comes to shove, the freshmen run away. "What is going on here?!" I better step up and explain, it would be a disaster if Seifer came with a quick remark now. "Excuse me, I can explain." Yikes, this guy is in a really cranky mood, his eyes are telling me to drop dead. SeeD's from the discipline committee, this isn't going to be pretty.

Just let it go Squall, they'll take Seifer since he's the one that was on top of you, just stay calm. No, no, no! Don't go after him! "Seifer!" Awh, why did you have to punch him the stomach?! "Wooo-hooo! That's the spirit Squall, come get me, come and get me real good!" Right now I could...! "Seifer, shut up!" "Everyone, quiet! Take them away and you young lady, get to your class!" Guess this is all I can do for you now. "Yes sir." I salute like I've always done since I was eight years old.

Do you always have to be alone just by yourself, just you alone, why don't you let me in? Do you have always have to go away so far away, so far away – why can't you stay? I'm always left standing here, seeing you go away, either by yourself or someone takes you away.

As I expected, the leading topic over the breakfast table is Seifer and Squall's fight in the hallway. It'll take at least another month before the freshmen get used to those to grasping at each others throats every now and then. What is it with them? Hyne, I don't get it, not at all! Thunderstorm, terrible weather, a fist fight before breakfast and my toast got burned. Why all this, now, today? Couldn't it have been postponed until sometime next week? Is that too much to ask for?

I'll have to check on those two during lunch. Lets see if I can get Xu to do some research for me. Where is she anyway? She's not sitting with the other instructors and I don't see her at the cafeteria counter either, so where in the world...? Fine, I'll ask for her then. "Excuse me, ma'am." Better cut into their conversation while it is still merry. Looks like the news about Squall's fight hasn't reached them, yet. "Where is instructor Xu?"

"Xu you say? Didn't she call in sic today, Mike?" Oh great. "Yeah, it couldn't be helped. She had to wade into that river late last night to catch those two students that were violating curfew." This really IS one of those days, now isn't it? "Well, there you have it. I could drop her a message if you'd like." No, no... that's fine. I'll just... play it by ear, see if I can keep track of the gossip and check with Dr Kadowaki during lunch break. "Never mind, it wasn't anything important. It can wait. If you'll excuse me."

Instructor Brian's class will start soon, so I better get going. Isn't that Zell fellow in his class? I dare say that he is. If anyone can brighten my mood, it would have to be him. "Good morning Zell, how are you" Hope that didn't come out as false as my cheerfulness really is. "Huh? Oh hi! Yeah, I'm all good y'know, fit for fight." Lively indeed, I wonder how he does it? It's like he's this... ball of positive energy. Squall could learn a thing or two from him.

Ouch! What was that? "Hey you! Watch it where you're going man!" Heh, Zell caught me. Good reflexes. "I'm late for class, y'know!" No wonder I was knocked over, Raijin's large frame could bring down a house if he hit it with full force. "What? Are you an idiot or something? Class doesn't start until the instructor comes in, everyone knows that!" Zell has a heart of gold, but his temper is infernal and has a rapid climb.

"Zell, it's okay. I'm sure Raijin has his reasons." Better smooth things over, I don't want this to turn into another fist fight. "Yeah, but..." What's with those puppy eyes? Suddenly I'm the bad guy? Well, whatever. "Even so, you shouldn't run in the hallways like that Raijin." Oh my. Raijin is blushing so hard, he'll get a nosebleed any second. Perhaps he isn't too used to girls?

And there comes instructor Brian. "Come on you two, lets take our seats." Zell on my left, Raijin on my right. Now there won't be any trouble at all. Raijin is just as old as me, though he still has to take the basic classes like all other freshmen. If he'd just be a little bit more conscious of his surroundings and less self-centered, he'll reach far. There are plenty of clients who think only in terms of brute strength, which would put Raijin pretty high on their list.

I wonder how Squall is doing? Guess he's getting chewed out by instructor Tsugumi for sure. At least he'll be better off than Seifer, who can't keep his mouth shut when he gets yelled at. Though instructor Tsugumi might be the rule that confirms the exception. "Alright class, lets begin. Divide into groups and review the lessons on your terminals. Ask if you have any questions." Well, back to class then.

Look at those two, Zell and Raijin. They work hard to understand the alien language of military communications. I guess I can't rest now, it would look bad. "Okay then, first we'll start with proper speech..."

Thank goodness the class ended. I'm beat and starving. At least now most of the class won't have too much trouble with the upcoming test. Right, now I'll grab a bite for lunch and snoop about for some news regarding Squall and Seifer. "Excuse me! Could you please hold the elevator?" I press my hand against the edge of the elevator door to hold it open. Another candidate like myself, Aya her name is I think.

She usually hangs out with this... what's his name again? He's in... Xu's class I think, or do I just believe that because Xu loves to gossip about him? Why can't I remember his name? How annoying. "Phew, thanks a lot." I give her a smile. "No problem."

There's something about this silence. It feels a bit awkward. "It'll be good with some food, I'm starving myself." Uh-oh, she's up to something, I can tell. "Say, weren't you in the cafeteria committee last year?" Here it comes. "Yes, that's right. I was only there for 4 months though. It crashed with my studies." Not to mention turning the cafeteria into a battlefield.

"So, you're not a member?" Is that what she's after? My spare time. I hardly have any, thank you very much. "Yes and no. I don't cook, but I do help out with the menu, cleaning and I step in on special occasions." Maybe, just maybe I can weasel my way out of this one. Has this elevator always been this slow?

Finally, we arrived. Lets see if we can change the subject here. "Your name was Aya, right? I heard instructor Xu was sick earlier today, so who had your class?" And we're off. "Yeah, we had this odd fellow. Never really caught his name, but he had recently lost his instructors license or whatever reason. What a looser." Ouch, I bet Kojiroh Amagi would cry if he heard what the girls really think of him.

Must be hard, to loose something like an instructors license and then walk amongst you fellow SeeD, partially labeled a failure. Only thing worse than being alone is to be alone in a crowd. "We were told that it wasn't anything serious, just a late summer flu. Instructor Xu will be back either tomorrow or the day after that." She sounds happy when she speaks of Xu. Guess she treats her students with care.

Holy Hyne under Lunar Cry, what a queue. We'll be old and gray before we even can get within sight of the counter. "Hey Aya, you're late!" Ah, there he is, Aya's friend. Erm, I still can't remember his name. How embarrassing. "Calintz, jeez who are you calling late, running out of class 10 minutes before it ends?" Another good duo. I wonder if their friendship will mature into something deeper later on? They would make a sweet couple.

Well then, about that queue. "So at any rate, I bought you lunch." Look at those two, guess that is what friends are for. "What's this? You're going to bribe me with food now, is that it?!" Oh dear, low bloodsugar and a dull class before that. She's going to blow. "Now, now... Aya, I got your favorite, pizza baguette." Slick move, looks like he knows her like the back of his hand, since her ranting stopped.

"If you're pulling some prank, I'll smack you into next month, buster!" Yeah, they'd make a great couple. Seems like these two are having great fun, even if they don't see it themselves. I'll better excuse myself quietly and head over to Xu's place. She'd like some company, plus I can sneak a snack from her fridge.

I come here so often that the Garden Faculties rarely asks questions. Normally a student would be asked what business he has in the instructors dorm, since it strictly speaking is off limits to SeeD candidates. Lets see, here's Xu's room. "Who is it?" My, my. Xu sounds as if she has swallowed a whole desert. "It's me, can I come in?" I might get sick because of this. Better make an early night to kill off the flu before it gets a foothold. "Sure, sure." As laid-back as usual.

Curtains are closed and the room is pitch black. The gloomy weather isn't really letting much light getting through in the first place. "Could you be a darling and get me a glass of water? I need to take some medication and these pills won't go down unless I flush them down like a toilet seat." Okay, I guess that must be the fever doing most of the talking.

"What in the world got you to wade into a river late at night? I heard something about curfew violation, but even so." I go into the bathroom to get a glass of water, letting the water run for a while to get it nice and cold. "It was that darn Seifer again, this time he nagged Squall enough to get into a wild chase all over the dorm and then outdoors." I pause, filling the glass over the edge and letting the water run free. It feels cold over my fingers.

Did Squall and Seifer keep it going from around curfew until this morning? What are those two made of? "Of course Seifer was just more pumped up with a couple of instructors hot on his tail, in addition to Squall. There was no way he'd pass on the chance to show off, so he pulled all sorts of stunts to keep us close, but not close enough to catch him." I can imagine that Squall wouldn't want to loose to Seifer and followed his lead.

I had over the glass and Xu takes her pills. "Awh, I feel like I've been roadkilled six times over and then scratched off the road." True that you don't look too good, but I think you're exaggerating. After all, it's just the flu. "I take it that instructor Tsugumi joined you in your chase after Squall and Seifer?"

Xu snorts in disgust. "If she had, that one armed devil would have cracked a hole in the earth in the process. She has no concept for gentle touch. No, she just laughed us in the face and said she'd consider it training before she went back to bed." What a surprising decision. Then again, they're both suppose to be Gunblade specialists, so it is expected that they'll top of the line when or if they graduate, even amongst the ranks of SeeD.

It is possible that instructor Tsugumi is actually debriefing them rather than scolding them. While learning by doing has been the philosophy of Garden since it began taking in students, instructor Tsugumi is taking it too far. I better go and check it out. "Are you going to be alright Xu? Do you need anything?" I can always drop by later or even get excused from class for a while at least.

"Nope, I just need some good old sleep. I feel like I could sleep until infinity ended, so you can just go and check on your darlin' prince." Honestly! I won't hit a sick person, but I'll get even with you for that one Xu, mark my words.

I've still got time left from my lunch break. Besides instructor Alicia is, sad to say, directionally challenged, so she's usually always late for class. If she hadn't been a master in mechanical war machines and combat A.I, she'd never be a SeeD. Guess you can be a SeeD, even if you're just sitting behind a desk analyzing data from the field.

Here it is, the discipline committee room. Better knock I suppo... "What do you want?" Yikes! Guess there's no point in trying to sneak up on instructor Tsugumi, even if you're hiding behind a soundproof door. "I..." Uh-oh, what do I say? Her glare has turned my brain to pulp. "Court is in session young lady, none of them will come out until it is over. Return to your class." The door slammed shut. Oh-kay, and Squall has to deal with that woman on a daily basis? No wonder Xu calls her the one armed demon. That was some presence!

I should get going to the library, class will start soon. We'll spend the rest of the time here, studying up on GF's, though as usual they'll ask me to study even more magical items, for use in my Blue Magic. I sometimes wonder if that is a blessing or a curse. It felt terrible, the first time... Anyway! Off to class.

No big surprises here. A stack of books for me to read. How am I ever suppose to learn all of this by heart? No to mention to actually remember any of this out in the field? What am I doing here? I sometimes wish for another life, but... this is it, as far as I know this is all that I've got. Better make the best and most out if it while I still can. Now, study, study, study...

Finally, the dinner bell rings. Oh praise the Heavens, I'm free! At least for today I am. I wonder... about Squall. Is he okay? And what did instructor Tsugumi mean by court being in session? Don't tell me...? They're going to get expelled!? Or – at the very least stand risk of getting expelled? I have to check it out.

Here I am again, in front of the discipline committee's front door. Okay, here goes nothing. "What is it this time? You again?" Guess things have calmed down in there, she doesn't sound so bad now as she did earlier. "Instructor, I thought I'd inform you that dinner is being served at the cafeteria." And I top it off with a flawless salute, so there! Oh? What is this? She hesitates, glances over her shoulder and...?

"Come with me." Eh? H-h-h-hey! Let of my arm, you, you, you! "Ah, instructor?" Darn it, what's with this walking pace anyway? We're striding as if we had some epic monster after us. "You're with the cafeteria committee, isn't that correct?" Pardon? "Eh... well, yes ma'am, to an extent I am." What in the world is this woman thinking?

Are we here to get food for Squall and Seifer? Don't tell me that she made them skip lunch? "Get three extra large portions of the today's special. Use my name if you have to, and meet me back at the discipline committee's office." Okay, extra large would mean that she DID make them skip lunch. They must be starving by now...

Instructor Tsugumi just took off to the infirmary. I've got a bad feeling about this. Better get that food ready fast. "Excuse me!" I'll have to sneak in the queue and get the kitchen staff to understand. "Oh my, that sounds very bad. Just wait a moment and I'll get those plates for you." They're very kind, not to mention skilled. After all, they taught me everything I know about cooking. "Here you are sweetheart, now get going. Those two must be half dead by now."

Of course I'll hurry! Here we are, now I'll just open this door and... Eh? Locked!? "You work fast, that's good." Thank goodness that the instructor doesn't waste anymore time than I do. "Instructor, why is the door locked?" I guess I shouldn't have asked that, but it just popped out. "This is the discipline committee's office, the door automatically locks itself when closed. Security you know." Argh, there's something about her manner of speech that just gets to me.

Kind of reminds me of how Seifer talks, always looking down on others. Oh my...GOD! They're in worse shape than I imagined! "Take this first aid kit and tend to their wounds, when you're done they can eat. Not a moment sooner." You've got to be kidding! They're... they're corpses for crying out loud! "Instructor... I-I can't treat wounds this bad on two people with just one basic first aid kit. They need medical attention, now!"

Uh-oh, there's that glare again, just a thousand times more intense. Hyne, it's like looking into a pair of suns. "You're a SeeD candidate as are they. If you can't do such a basic task and they cannot endure such conditions, then you have no business at this academy!" No argument there, but still... "Instructor, please! The food will get cold, and..."

**SLAP!**

Wha..? My vision is all blurry, my right cheek burn with pain and my jaw is kind of numb. "Do as you're told!" I won't give you the satisfaction of seeing my tears, never! A crunching sound. She hit my glasses of my face and now she's stepping on them. "Yes ma'am." I can barely press out the words and still maintain my composure. This will take everything I've got, not to cry.

In a place of refuge where no one's allowed – somewhere in your heart, where no helping hands will reach you – in your silent desert land. As captain of a peaceful phantom ship in a proud and senseless soul, how am I supposed to help you? I don't know what to do, I don't know what to...

I sink down in front of Seifer and tend to his wounds. His face is beaten, swollen, cut and bruised. The cotton dots soaked in sterile fluid stings and his face stiffens as I gently pat over his cuts. Then I notice the foul smell and see that he has vomit in his lap. I can't let them see or hear me cry, I just can't.

Do you always have to be alone, just by yourself, just you alone? Why don't you let me in? Do you always have to go away, so far away, so far away? Why can't you stay? How am I supposed to help you, when you're in your desert land? How am I supposed to help you? I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do.

I ration the cotton and bandages as best I can, to leave some for Squall's injuries as well. "Work faster, for as you said earlier, the food is getting cold." Instructor Tsugumi just watches from the background. I'm no student of hers, why am I ordered around by that, that...! "Haste makes waste I always say, so I rarely hurry." Eat that!

Do you always have to be alone, just by yourself, just you alone? Why don't you let me in? Do you always have to go away, so far away, so far away? Why can't you stay?

Squall... I think I could die. Why won't you say something? Why won't you look at me? Why have you drawn into your world, where I can't reach you? My hands are trembling, I can feel that I'm closing in fast on my emotional limit. Endure it, it will be over soon. Please, just a few more minutes.

No, Hyne please have mercy! He's raising his head. His eyes are sore either from Seifer's beating earlier or form whatever he went through after he came here. No, don't look at me! I can't... I just can't take it! If you look at me now I'll...

Our eyes meet and I wonder... can you see it Squall, the questions that echo behind my eyes? Do you always have to be alone, just by yourself, just you alone?! Why don't you let me in?! Do you always have to go away, so far away, so far away?! Why can't you stay?!

A strong hand plants a iron clad grip on my left shoulder. "Enjoy your meal gentlemen. I expect you to hand in the dishes to the cafeteria when you're done, before reporting to the infirmary for further treatment." Instructor Tsugumi yanks me up to my feet and half drags me to the exit. Last I see is Squall sitting in a miserable looking, hunched over position and then the door closed.

I'm shaken back to my senses, quite literary. Instructor Tsugumi's face is close to mine, but her face is still lost in a fog of blur. "Head over to the infirmary and straighten yourself up. While you're at it, tell the doctor that she'll get patience soon and what state their in." All I want to do now is to cry, crack my heart open and let it all flow out. I don't want to carry this darkness, this.. whatever it might be that weighs heavy on my heart.

Shaken to the core, I somehow manage to cross the main hall and find my way to the infirmary. Thankfully most students are not in the main hall, so there won't be much of a circus because of this. Not for me, Squall or Seifer. Their injuries, although cruel to behold, were not severe.

Some proper healing items or a couple of cure spells and they'd be back to normal after a long nights rest. What little will be left after the treatment can be explained away by referring to the fight this morning. I must admit it, instructor Tsugumi is one cunning woman, covering her tracks like that for something like this.

Would Squall talk? Never, it would ruin his training and he'd never do anything that would hurt Garden. He had probably already embraced it as part of his training. Would Seifer talk? Never, he'd never loose anything to Squall. If he could endure, so would Seifer. Would I talk? Someday, but by then instructor Tsugumi would be too old to be in SeeD and the incident would be a thing of the past. The fact that it came into public view would be dismissed as a detail, nothing earth shattering.

Headmaster Cid would not be in power when that day came, and even if he would be, his influence would most likely be greatly reduced. His presence on the board would be a formality, a show for the public and for the clients. There would be puppet masters, pulling his strings.

Finally, I made it. Dr Kadowaki makes big eyes of shock to see my staggering entrance. So much for the goddess of Balamb Garden, huh? "My God girl, what has happened to you?!" She demanded. With a trembling voice dancing at the border of tearful breakdown I explain as best as I can what has happened. I can see that she doesn't approve one bit of what has been going on, but she's unable to do anything about it.

SeeD's are the military elite, Gunblade specialists are the ultimate SeeD, so of course they're pushed harder and longer than anyone else. How long have I been sitting here, taking deep breaths and swallowing down my tearful breakdown? Funny how time sometimes looses its meaning. The door slides open and I rise slowly.

Seifer comes in first, he makes no attempt in putting up a false show. He's been broken open and left to bleed. Dr Kadowaki leads him to the bed, he groans as he sinks into the white bed sheets. Squall rests his battered frame in the doorway. He tries to be strong, but I can see that he's really pushing himself.

I walk up to him and try to lure one of his arms over my shoulders so he can rest wile I lead him to the spare bed. His arm hangs loosely at his side, as if he has no strength to do anything about it. "...Don't." He grunts out at the edge of hearing before taking the handful of steps up to the bed himself and lies down to rest.

How could it come to this, on this day of all days? There's not much I can do, aside from staying out of Dr Kadowaki's way and let her do her job. I watch with mixed feelings as I see the Cure spell casted on their bodies take effect. Not a single scar or bruise is left on either of them when Dr Kadowaki's done, at least no external ones. Hyne knows what scars have been left on their insides and if they'll ever heal.

Although they've been healed, they're both drained from all energy. Seifer has fallen sound asleep and Dr Kadowaki calls over Raijin to help her bring him to his room. While we waited for Raijin to come, I study Squall's face and eyes. They're locked on the ceiling and going back and forth, thinking. He's probably digesting today's impressions and experiences.

Raijin arrives and picks up the sleeping Seifer. He takes with him a note and some medication for Seifer and wishes us a good night. How can this be a good night? I guess I shouldn't take it out on him. He didn't mean anything about, aside from the standard politeness.

Squall rises from bed and gets his bearings. "Take it easy tomorrow, okay?" Dr Kadowaki says to him before handing him a similar note and medication. "I can't just run away." He mumbles in reply before getting to his feet. Dizziness kicks in and I rush to his aid to keep him from falling. "...Don't." He grunts again to me before weakly shoving me away.

I feel like there's something inside me that is slowly dying. "Keep an eye on him until he reaches the dorm, follow him all the way to the bed. I'll give the Garden Faculty a heads up so you two won't be bothered." Dr Kadowaki tells me before ushering me after Squall.

Staying a little behind Squall, I follow his every weak step with worry. I wish... no, for now I'll just have to be content with what I have and take it one step at the time. Please be alright. After a walk that seemed to take a liftetime, I finally saw Squall opening the door to his room at the dorm.

A clock on the wall tells me the time. It's not midnight yet, I still have a few minutes to spare. "Uhm, Squall?" I call after him. He stops and sways a little in the doorframe. "Ha-happy 14th birthday, Squall." I try to tell him as cheerfully as I can. There, I've said it. He closes his door silently and I close in on it to listen if he's okay.

I can tell that he somehow tries to take of his uniform and fold it, but is having difficulties with it because of his weakened state. He flops himself on the bed and falls asleep at last. Sleep well Squall, earned it you have, I silently wish for him.

Gently and quietly I nod my forehead on his door, with each silent thud a question runs through my tired mind; do you always have to go away? Squall can't you stay... Do you always have to be alone, do you always have to go away?


	7. Have You Seen My Childhood?

**Have You Seen My Childhood?**

Field class with Draw and Stock as subject was a never ending thrill ride for the fresh students at Balamb Garden. Out of the, at times lethally dull, classroom filled to the roof with snoring theory and books, and straight into the real thing. For many of the students, this was the first time serious confrontation with the various monsters that roamed the earth, skies and seas due to Lunar Cry. A fitting metaphor for the experience was that of a roller coaster ride.

You'd be scared out of your wits, yet you knew that you weren't in any real peril. Just the thrills, not the risks. At least not the same risk level as if you'd be doing this on your own. The risk level was dropped dramatically by having SeeD instructors disabling the monsters ability to fight back. Then the freshman would walk up within range, draw a spell of their choice and stock it. Once done, a new student came up and repeated.

Balamb Garden ran a teaching policy that was summed up as learning by doing, or L.B.D for short. The instructors would follow and guide a student only so far, usually through theory and the first infant steps of putting theory into practice. From that point on, you were pretty much on your own, with the instructors as a safety net, should the shit hit the fan, as they say. If you didn't have what it took, you'd just be a liability to yourself, the mission, Garden and your fellow SeeD's. There were no room for such people at any of the Gardens.

Raijin and Fujin were up next. They watched nervously on as their instructor sent a quick stream of Thunder at a Fastitocalon fin sticking up from the sand. The fin shot out to the right, trying to hide under the waves as they slided up and down on the beach. Another swift stream of Thunder brought the Fastitocalon up into the open. Dripping wet with salty sea water, the monster turned its head from right to left, looking for its attacker.

Before it had a chance to get a complete overview of its situation, Fujin's instructor darted forward and stabbed it with her spear. The Fastitocalon's movements became slower, lazier as if it had dozed off into sleep. "Okay Raijin, it is all yours." The instructor said, taking a few steps back. Raijin swallowed and took a deep breath. He wasn't very confident in his skills with magic, but he had to get it right if he wanted to carry on as a SeeD.

The plan was basically to get past the basics, then at first and best chance choose to specialize in physical combat. All this para-magic jumbo stuff was enough to make a poor man's head explode. He was within range, focusing inwards until he could _see_ with his senses the energy that made the basis for magic flowing inside the monster. Raijin's mind reached out and attempted to embrace some of the energy, then to draw it into his person.

Everyone knew the end result, but no one said anything. "Fujin, you're next." The instructor sighed. Raijin stepped back and took a seat on the beach. Not a single spell, he couldn't get them out from the Fastitocalon and into himself, then to sort it out as elementary or whatever type of magic it was. Fujin on the other hand was just above average skilled with magic. She was at a steady 5-6 spells drawn and stocked at every attempt.

That being said, she too, like just about everyone else had their bad turns. Once in a while however she jumped up to the max spells drawn, with was the tricky number 9. Experts on para-magic had come up with various explanations for why no-one was able to draw more than 9 spells at the time. While there were variations in these explanations, they all boiled down to the same thing; it was a racial limitation. Humans couldn't do any better, even with Guardian Forces junctioned.

Fujin stepped back, relieved that she'd made it just fine without incident, but she did throw a worried glance at Raijin as he sat on the beach, scribbling things in the sand with his finger. "Class, stand back. Looks like the sleepyhead here is about to wake up." Instructors were overall friendly, yet professional when talking to their students. Although there were a few noteworthy exceptions to this rule. The Fastitocalon was killed fast and without effort, the dead body was to be brought back to Garden. Fastitocalon burgers were tasty and rich in minerals. Even so, everyone at Garden agreed that they didn't stand a chance against the cafeteria hot dogs.

The class walked back to Garden, the lead instructor up front, two SeeD's at the sides of the group and one at the rear, forming a diamond around the class of freshmen. "Raijin, Raijin, what's with the long face?" Fujin asked her friend. It took a small moment for Raijin to respond, as he obviously had his mind on other matters. "Uh? Oh, not much... it's just, you know." He tried to smile at her, though anyone could tell he was putting up an act, a poor one at that. She wanted to help, but didn't have the faintest idea of what she could do.

At lunch Raijin didn't have much appetite, he just poked the food around with his fork and sipped a glass of water every now and then. "Could I have a word with you, Raijin?" As he looked up, Raijin saw his instructor standing in front of him. She looked serious, as if she was a messenger and all the news were bad. The two of them found a quiet corner of the cafeteria and sat down for a talk "Any ideas what this might be about?" She asked Raijin.

Truth be told, he had a few ideas. His grades when it came to magic didn't really go in the right direction. It would be nice to have stable grades, even better to have rising grades, but Raijin's grades were dropping. "It's about my grades?" He asked carefully and judging by the looks he got back, he'd say he had hit the bullseye. "You... you need to straighten up Raijin, at this rate I can't pass you for this semester, let alone for the year." His instructor said. Easy to say, next to impossible to do.

It was no secret that Raijin didn't have the brains to sort out magic. He had a hard time telling right from left when it came to that topic. Manually configuring his junction setup was an impossible task. The other students in his class often called him Wendigo, from the monster that lingered around Delling City. Know for its brute strength, it was also considered a fairly stupid creature, even by monster standards. "I'd recommend extra lessons with a private instructor. It doesn't have to be an instructor, a senior student or SeeD will suffice." She suggested to Raijin.

Raijin wanted to pass, at least get as far as he needed where he could choose what to focus on, but what good would that do him if he failed the first semester? "I know you're struggling and I can clearly see the potential that you have, just waiting to grow. Just don't give up, practice makes perfect." His instructor patted him on the shoulder and left her words of encouragement behind to sink in.

After classes were done, Raijin sulked his way back to the dorm where he'd try to struggle with the text books on para-magic yet again. It felt like writing a complex pattern in stone with nothing but your fingernails as tools. Walking past the instructors office, he heard Seifer getting chewed out by instructor Tsugumi, again. He saw Squall standing in the hallway, leaning absentmindedly out a open window, looking up at the evening sky as the first stars began to shine.

How in the blazes was he going to pass? Raijin was at a loss of what to do. One hour turned into another as Raijin turned the pages in his text book over and over again. Hyne would need to open the big bag of miracles if something were to happen, as it became evident to Raijin that he wasn't making much progress. A quiet knock on the door got his attention and when he opened, Fujin stood there with a brave smile on her face.

The two took a long walk around the grounds of Balamb Garden, for a change of scenery and to clear their troubled minds. "You know, I heard from what the instructor said, you might not make it through this semester." Fujin said. Although quiet and extremely shy around others, Raijin was one of the few she could open up to and be herself. There were people whom she wanted to open up to, but never found the chance or the nerve to do so.

They both knew what the other thought and felt. Raijin needed help and Fujin wanted to help, though no one had the slightest idea of how to approach the problem at hand. Fujin was good at taken in knowledge, but not passing it on to others. She often said that she just "went with the flow". Raijin on the other hand was a slow learner. As far as Fujin was concerned though, this wasn't such a bad thing as it was Raijin's slow learning that laid the foundation for their friendship many years ago.

"There are several students that are very good, we could ask them for help." Fujin suggested. Raijin appreciated her efforts, but his low confidence already whispered to him that it was futile and that the sooner he packed and went home, the better. What was the village idiot going off to Garden for in the first place? Only reason to go to Garden was to become a SeeD. The village idiot? Trying to become a SeeD? Talk about a project doomed to crash and burn even before it left the drawing board.

Fujin suggested they should ask Quistis, Squall or Seifer for help. First stop was Quistis' room. Although she was positive to the idea, their timing was bad. She was currently busy with Blue Magic tests, which were unique for her as Blue Magic was rare this far south. Since she had no fellow students to turn to for help, she was pretty much on her own.

Next stop was Squall's room, but he didn't answer despite being in his room and as far as Fujin and Raijin could tell, not really all that busy. Last stop was Seifer's room, where Fujin did the talking, or stammering to be more precise. "Curfew kicks in soon little girl, aren't you going to go home before the boogie-man comes out from the closet?" Seifer chuckled. He always gave the new students a hard time.

Raijin sighed heavily. This was getting them nowhere. He felt that he was just dragging Fujin down and a ball of guilt started to swell in his gut. There was no need for her to go through all of this for him. It was his problem after all. "Fujin, lets call it the day." He told her before heading back to his own room not waiting for Fujin to answer.

Raijin woke up the next morning by the sound of someone or something tapping his window. Sluggish and sleepy, he got out of bed, pulled away the curtains and took a look outside. Seifer stood there, with a fat grin on his face, urging Raijin to open the window. Curious, Raijin slided the window open and in the blink of an eye Seifer dragged him out. "What are you doing?!" Raijin demanded when he finally managed to sit straight in the middle of the bushes. "Ditching class, wanna come?" Seifer smirked.

This was going from bad to worse. Raijin had a terrible nights sleep due to all his worries, his grades were dropping, he faced the risk of failing the semester and now this jerk wanted him to ditch classes with him? "C'mon, it'll be fun. If not, I have a money back guarantee." Seifer said, dragging Raijin with him.

It must have been quite a sight, Seifer dragging a pajamas clad Raijin around, sneaking around the Garden Faculty and laughing out loud when the bell rang for the first class. "I bet instructor Tsugumi is going nuclear this morning." Seifer laughed. After a good hour of running around without any apparent goal or aim, the odd duo came to a stop in a small forest near the Fire Cavern.

"Why are you doing this?" Raijin asked Seifer. Instead of answering the question, Seifer pointed his pitch black gunblade deeper into the woods. "We'll need Thunder magic if we're to live to see the light of another day." Seifer stated in a over dramatic tone of voice. Thunder magic? At a time like this? What in the blazes is this guy thinking? Is he even thinking at all? Raijin wanted to just walk away, but they were quite their ways away from Garden.

A walk all by himself was dangerous in its own right. At least if he hung around with Seifer, he had someone very skilled and experienced to watch his back. Without any weapons, armor, spells or GF's, Raijin was easy prey out in these woods. Then again, standing next to Seifer could be considered flirting with disaster, as there was no telling what that moron might do next. Raijin had no idea what had come over Seifer all of the sudden.

He had always had this idea that Seifer wanted to be the best, no matter the cost. Low blows and sucker punches were his trademark. Why Seifer would suddenly turn around and act like an eccentric old geezer and ditching classes with Raijin was something that was above normal reason. Out from some bushes, a large Caterchipillar came hobbling out. "Stay sharp, looks like we're going to fight our way from here on." Seifer grinned over his shoulder before he charged in.

Raijin was dumbstruck. What in the world was going on here?! They could just as easily just have walked away from that stupid thing! Seifer fought as if he was dancing, but his overconfidence cost him a strong blow that sent him flying against a tree. Lying motionless on the ground, the Caterchipillar slided its way towards Seifer.

Picking up a thick branch from the ground and breaking off the smaller branches, Raijin took a firm grip and slammed it as hard as he could in the back of the Caterchipillar's head. Turning around, the Caterchipillar responded with sending a Thunder spell straight into Raijin's chest. The blow was powerful, yet it didn't hurt. Apparently the Caterchipillar was confused over this as well, but before it had a chance to react, Raijin was all over it with his branch.

Using all of his strength he banged at the Caterchipillar over and over again until it didn't move. Panting heavily, Raijin looked down on his kill. It was his first, but the adrenaline rush racing through his system didn't really let it sink in. Right now Seifer was his priority. He tried a few things to check if Seifer was okay; listen for breathing, heartbeat and checking pulse among other things. Much to his disdain, he was either doing something wrong or Seifer was dead.

Raijin's priorities remained the same. Get home, keep Seifer safe and get him to medical help as soon as possible. Sheeting Seifer's gunblade across his back, Raijin picked him up and carried Seifer in his arms. Looking at the shadows from the trees, Raijin got a bearing of north was and started out in a light jog in the direction he hoped Garden was.

After a while he came to a meadow. Putting Seifer down, Raijin decided to climb one of the taller trees to get a better bearing of his whereabouts. Garden might send out search parties for him, but he didn't know if they'd do the same for Seifer. Even if they did, Balamb was after all a fairly large island and depending on when they found he was missing, how long it took them to get organized and if they had any clues of what direction he had taken, the rescue could be far off indeed.

Worse case scenario was that they'd to spend the night out, which wouldn't be easy let alone good. Taking shifts in monster watch at night would be impossible with Seifer unconscious. Speaking of which, Seifer could be dead and cold before noon for all Raijin knew. He looked beyond the leafs and saw Garden's tower shimmer in the morning sun. Thank Hyne they were heading in the right direction. At least that was something.

Raijin climbed back down, picked up Seifer and resumed his jog. Things just might work out in the end after all, he thought to himself. That was before they ran into a very cranky Bomb monster. They sometimes left the comforts of Fire Cavern to start small fires in the woods. As they eyed each other up and down, Raijin considered his options. As Bomb's hovered in the air, they were faster and harder to outrun, even without carrying a unconscious SeeD student. Fighting would be hard as Raijin would have to fall down to some sort of improvised staff weapon again as he did with the Caterchipillar. However, even kids know that wood fire trouble.

There was always Seifer's gunblade, but how was he suppose to use the darn thing? He'd risk giving the Bomb a easy fight as he'd end up hurting himself more than his opponent. Suddenly the Bomb swelled in size. This was not good, Raijin needed to think of something, fast. He gently put Seifer down and carefully drew the gunblade. He couldn't treat it as a staff due to the cutting edges, but he could throw it.

The sheer weight along with Raijin's strength should be enough to pierce the Bomb and thus slow down its mobility, at least for a while. Then it was just to grab Seifer and run like mad. The gunblade would be lost, but Raijin would rather loose a chunk of steel than his or Seifer's life. It was a long shot by far, but it was all he could think of.

Yet again the Bomb grew in size and then it rushed towards Raijin. In the last minute, Raijin remembered what this meant and threw himself over Seifer's frame, protecting it with his. The Bomb detonated, sending gust of hot air and other gases hurling in every direction. Raijin's pajamas was burned badly, but aside from that he came out of it surprisingly intact.

Silence crept in over the forest as the aftermath of the Bomb's detonation settled in. "How long are you going to lay on top of me like that? You're not the lightest person in town." Seifer grumbled. Raijin shot up like a rocket, as if he'd been talked to by a ghost. "You're... you're alive?" He stuttered in amazement. Sitting up, Seifer cracked his neck loose. "Of course, I was just waiting for that Caterchipillar to get close enough for me to kill with one blow, but you spoiled my fun." Seifer explained

Raijin tried to sort out his mind, uncertain if he should be happy or angry. "I figured that you could carry me around, as punishment for taking my kill." Seifer said, getting to his feet. He extended his hand towards Raijin, as if asking for something. "My gunblade." He grunted seriously. Handing Seifer his weapon, Raijin's own hands were trembling. Taking a note of it, Seifer said nothing, he just started walking back to Garden.

"Get a grip Raijin, its the thrills of combat, life and death that's tingling in your fingers." Seifer said over his shoulder. Raijin smiled in spite of himself, he wasn't cut for this kind of thing after all. There was just no way he could do all those things needed to be done by a SeeD. The stories he'd heard, they were nothing compared to this little adventure. How would he handle it when it was his turn? He wouldn't, he'd fail.

I better thank him I suppose, for letting me know the truth, not in class, but by ditching it, Raijin thought to himself. "Seifer?" He called out. "Yeah, whaddya want now? I'm not hold your hand." Seifer pouted. "No... I'd just like to thank you." Raijin said with all honesty.

Seifer stopped and looked back at Raijin with a confused look. "You showed me that this SeeD business... it's not me." Raijin began. "I mean, look at me. I'm shaking like a leaf, and over what? A dead Caterchipillar and a Bomb that didn't even really hit me with its suicide attack." Raijin walked past Seifer as he carried on talking. "I figured that since she wanted to go so badly, that I should come with her. Garden is no place for a girl like her, not on her own at any rate."

Thinking back, Raijin remembered her smile when he said he'd come with her, all the way across the ocean and beyond the gates of Balamb Garden. It was as if she'd won a million gil. He couldn't help but wonder what face she'd show him when he'd pack up and go home. "Wonder if she'll come back with me, or stay to walk the distance, at least for as far as she can." Raijin mused to himself.

Looking at Raijin's strong broad back, Seifer saw several old scars as if he'd been beaten or whipped many times over for a long period of time. "What's with the scars?" Seifer asked. "Rough childhood." Raijin replied seriously, indicating that he didn't want to talk about it. "Old man Hambly, eh?" Seifer pressed.

Turning around, Raijin looked at Seifer with surprise. How in the world did he know? "Fujin told me all about it last night. Honestly, that kid's just like a geyser waiting to blow." Seifer said. He carried on explaining how Fujin, after Raijin had left last night, suddenly had bursted out with a plea to Seifer to help her friend.

At first Seifer would just poke some fun out of her, then slam the door in her face. But as she gave her little story, Seifer had a change of heart. Both Raijin and Fujin crew up in the same village, a small place called Winhill. Raijin was labeled the village idiot because he was a slow learner and easily got things mixed up or flat out wrong. One thing they couldn't take away from Raijin was his stamina. He was a real workhorse and did a lot of heavy work in the village.

Fujin's mother never married the man that gave her Fujin, instead she fell head over heals over this traveling salesman called Hambly. One could say that she had fallen in love with two men, as Hambly changed with mood swings that were violent not to mention destructive. Why he took out his anger on Fujin no one really knew. Perhaps it was because Fujin was a walking talking mockery, as if Fujin's real father was laughing at Hambly. For despite their many attempts, Fujin's mother and Hambly never had a child of their own.

Regardless of his reasons, if he ever had them, Hambly would often take out broad and thick leather belts and strike Fujin down. Telling her to be quiet, each stroke made her cry in pain and so the circle started anew. When things finally settled down, Hambly would come crawling back begging for forgiveness. Fujin, taking too much after her mother, always did.

As Hambly's relationship with Fujin's mother was one of the few chances for outside trade, few dared to stand up against him, in fear that he'd leave and take a good chunk of village economy with him. Raijin, who lived down the street, came over Fujin after Hambly was done with her and comforted her as best he could. When Hambly got to know this, his rage reached new heights.

Raijin had come over to her house more than once to keep Hambly from getting his way. It ended the same as always. Despite his strength, Raijin couldn't stand up against a grown man, not at that age at any rate. So Raijin shielded Fujin, pressing her up against a corner and had his back turned towards Hambly and his leather belt.

"Heh, no wonder Fujin has issues with her confidence and is so shy that she apologizes for her own shadow every two step she takes." Seifer noted. "You two waited quite long before coming to Balamb, 10 years. I guess Fujin managed to mount the courage to escape when she realized that she was becoming a woman and what that could mean when having someone like Hambly in the house."

Raijin agreed with Seifer. Fujin had everything to gain and nothing to loose by leaving, at least for a place such as Balamb Garden. Even if she failed, she would have been here long enough to gain both the confidence and skills needed to stand against Hambly. She might even make a life of her own in Balamb, though Raijin doubted that. Fujin cared too much for her mother to leave her alone with that... monster.

"And as far as you goes." Seifer said, pointing a finger on Raijin's chest. "Having being told you're slow and dumb for a decade and a half, of course you'll start to believe that even if only one tenth of it is true. You hear me? It's all in your head." He stressed out the last part very clearly. Raijin shook his head in disagreement. He was about to object to Seifer's words, but was cut short.

"For you know, you did pretty okay for a freshman." Seifer commented. "You might not know it, but the main reason why Garden took you two in at such a late date was because you have natural resistance towards Thunder magic and Fujin has the same for Wind magic. That is something you have even without a GF in your head." He carried on. "Heh, you didn't leave me behind, just like she said." Seifer laughed a quick laugh before patting Raijin on the shoulder.

As the two walked back to Garden, Seifer carried on explaining how to work around Raijin's problem. Basically, as Raijin had a natural relationship with Thunder magic, he could use it to his advantage. By getting utterly familiar with Thunder magic in its various forms, he could then see how other types of magic were in comparison and then act accordingly. In a nutshell, Raijin would use Thunder magic as his template and base most of his magic interactions on this template.

While this was not an ideal solution as the more advanced types of magic differed greatly from the elemental types, it was a starting point and with time and practice, Raijin would get good enough to pass the basics. As far as Seifer could tell, Fujin was doing the same thing, just subconsciously. No wondered she refereed to it as "going with the flow".

Upon return to Garden, they were both dragged straight to the headmaster's office to get chewed out. Seifer, being a veteran in these matters, did most of the talking. He didn't lie and took his fair share of the responsibility and even used the opportunity to comment on how Raijin had handled himself in the situation. While Raijin was at fault for tagging along with Seifer in the first place, he did, all things considered, the right things from that point and onward.

Seifer was left at the mercy of instructor Tsugumi while Raijin was given a strong scolding and some chores to do for the rest of the week.


End file.
